The objective of this study are to examine the cost ofheart transplantation from the day of surgery to the day ofdischarge and to establish the methods of costing for hearttransplantation procedure. In the study, costing principles have been reviewed

costmodels were developed for the retrospective determination ofdirect cost for heart transplanation through the individualconsumable of cost categories and the apportionment of resourcearea costs. The costs were calculated per patient related toindividual treatment of patients with respect to volume and unitcosts. Using the theoretical framework, an empirical analysis ofthe cost data of 12 patients was undertaken from the relevantdepartments in Chulalongkorn Hospital. The total provider costfor the operation was calculated. In this study, the totalprovider cost of heart transplantation from the day of operationto the day of discharge is averaged to be Bt288,262 in 1994'sprice. The costs are classified by input, of which 91% of thetotal cost is recurrent cost and only 9% is capital cost. Amongthe recurrent cost components, the personnel cost is 46%, whichis the highest category. The second comes the drug cost which is20% and the third is supply cost, which accounts for 16% of therecurrent cost. The important implication from this study is thatthe hospital incur most of the cost for heart transplantation,while cost recovery is a. minor part of the total.