It does not charge students for maintaining the health record. The laboratory department does charge the students for performing tests. Somehow the cost for maintaining health records must be paid. One way to do this is to divide the cost and add a portion of the health records cost to the charges in other departments. Calculating allocations is very complicated and varies from health center to health center.
People also discuss fixed and variable costs.
Fixed costs do not change by the volume of services provided. Variable costs do change with volume. The total cost for x-ray film for the day's services does vary with volume. Other costs can be classified as direct, indirect and intangible. Direct costs are those that occur when providing the service.