Quality and costs in health care: using target costing in support of bundled payment programs

Purpose The main purpose of this study is to provide healthcare institutions with a management accounting framework that helps them achieve their quality goals and cost targets when providing services under bundled payment schemes. Design/methodology/approach After providing a theoretical framework on both bundled payments and target costing, the success factors of the former are compared with the principles of the latter in order to analyze the compatibility and complementarity of these models. Afterwards, an example of their potential combination in practice is introduced and ideas for future research are suggested. Findings It is concluded that, apart from presenting similar underlying goals as regards quality and cost, bundled payments and target costing display elements in common that make them compatible from a theoretical standpoint. Originality/value Because bundled payments models are relatively new, studies on their compatibility with managerial techniques emerging from industries other than healthcare do not abound in the literature.