Health Care Finance
Assets and Liabilities

Assets and liabilities are found in a balance sheet. Baker and Baker (2011, p. 107) define a balance sheet as a record of "what an organization owns, what it owes, and basically, what it is worth."

Item

Asset

Liability

Cash

Inventory

Bonds payable

Buildings

Payroll taxes due

Accounts payable

Equipment

Notes receivable

Assets, in basic terms, are all those items that an entity owns. In essence, an asset should have some value attributable to it. Current assets, according to Shim and Siegel (2000, p. 25), "are assets expected to be converted into cash or used up within one year or the normal operating cycle of the business, whichever is greater." They include such items as cash and stock. Long-term assets, on the other hand, include all those assets or items an entity does not intend to consume within a single year. Examples include, but they are not limited to, motor vehicles and buildings.

Liabilities could be defined as the….

Healthcare Finance: hat is the break-Even analysis approach and its application in health care organizations?
Unfortunately, hospital and health care budgeting of resources has become increasingly important in this cost-conscious era of health care. The last decades of cost-controlled medicine have required fiscally conscious approaches to the healthcare for many organizations, often at the expense of patient services. A financial analyst must strive to minimize this, yet still keep the organization afloat. A segment that does not make money or at least break even for the health care provider may have to be eliminated.

Health care facilities may take longer to break even on their initial investment than other forms of businesses. Also, the break-even period for primary care is different compared to tertiary care. Still, developing any break-even action plan begins with a clear understanding of any significant shortfalls against benchmark, with a special focus on provider productivity in terms of….

Healthcare Finance
The relationship between the doctor and a possible patient is established when the physician asks the person for the first time as how he could be of possible help. This direct and simple enquiry is the beginning of the trust of the patient that has to be put in the physician for any treatment to proceed. The patient is in need of help at that time, and has to trust the professional for getting the help and the patients want to do it. They need a person to take care of them during their period of suffering from illness. This relationship between the patient and the physician in the financial sphere also involves the same amount of reliance, confidence and trust, as otherwise, not treatment can be undertaken. This makes it essential that the physicians clearly mention to the patients when there is any conflict of interest in their….

Healthcare Finance
hat are the dynamics of patient accounts receivable? hat are some of the factors affecting patients accounts receivable?

Facing the challenge of how to address the hospital's unpaid accounts receivable can be one of the most emotionally draining issues for a patient accounts receivable department. In addition to people simply reigining on their payments, the department must face patients who cannot pay, who did not understand that their insurance would not cover a procedure, or patients who simply refuse to pay because they fault the hosptial for inapprorpriate care.

Such a combination of patient's financial, insurance, legal, and emotional complaints often drives some hospitals to explore the option of moving their accounts receivable from a primary collecting agency within the hosptial to a secondary agency. But once a hosptial has written an accounts recievable off to bad debt and sends it somewhere else, it can be very cumbersome transferring all that….

Healthcare Finance
Government rules:

In United States the Congress had passed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 or MMA and with this imposed a stoppage for 18 months on the starting of new physician owned specialty hospitals. At the same time, they also wanted to know the position regarding certain matters of physician owned heart, orthopedic and surgical specialty hospitals through MedPAC. The team visited sites, made legal analysis and met the share owners in these hospitals and finally presented a report to the Congress. It had also gone through the cost reports received from Medicare and inpatient claims of 2002, which was the most recent at that time. This will naturally form the basis of such hospitals being permitted or not. (Physician-owned specialty hospitals)

Findings of MedPAC:

The findings of this committee showed that:-

Physician owned hospitals generally treated patients who had less severe problems and concentrated on specific diagnosis….

Health Care Finance
One of the things people should know is that the landscape for health care is not good at present, especially in the not-for-profit sector. We are definitely running a not-for-profit health care institution here at VGH. Consider the Moody's Outlook for 2012, which is currently negative. There are a number of challenges that institutions like ours face, and will be explained in this article.

Hospital revenue growth for the next 18 months is forecast to be modest, but there are further issues that complicate the situation. For example, the expectations for the economy in the coming months remain poor. There will also be operating pressures resulting from regulatory changes and these will also include balance sheet challenges. The ultra-low interest rates on our debt are especially challenging to our ability to invest for the future.

Some would argue that there are opportunities in the market, for example mergers and acquisitions….

Healthcare Finance
In order to be successful in the present complex and frequently unfavorable business settings, a healthcare organization's strategic direction should be estimated, focused, and financially sustainable. Strategic business planning is an indispensable instrument to aid organizations focus strategic choices within the financial actualities of their environment. An efficient strategic business planning cycle includes making an evaluation, identification of business objectives, making strategies, performing an impact analysis and developing an execution plan. The important steps in strategic business planning comprises of conducting an assessment, identifying business objectives, making a strategy, carrying out an impact analysis, and developing an implementation plan. This procedure could include a one-to-three-year sequence and can be applied at the clinical service line or at the level of business unit level for a greater focused planning. The only certainty in the present healthcare environment is a constantly changing set of hypothesis regarding the future. (Bachrodt; Symth, 2004)

The….

Health Care Finance
Financial analyst Eric Feigenbaum (2009) notes that while we like to think of hospitals in terms of compassion, patient care and dedication to altruistic aims, they are businesses concerned with revenues and expenses like any other business (Feigenbaum 2009, p.2). In today's hectic world of economic downturn and financial struggles felt from individuals of every demographic and social status, revenue and expense accounting are issues that must be addressed carefully by nearly every business in every market. The same holds true for the health care industry and health care providers. With financial uncertainty come threats for health care providers in managing revenue and expenses during the upcoming years. However, with these threats remain certain opportunities for health care providers to take on in order to combat the uncertainty that comes with managing revenue and expenses when the amount of each is not ideal.

With the appropriate management techniques, the….

If the area wage index is greater than 1, the labor share equals 69.7%. The law requires the labor share to equal 62% if the area wage index is less than 1.0.
2) the wage adjusted labor share is added to the non-labor share of the standardized amount.

3) the wage adjusted standardized amount is multiplied by a relative weight for the DG. The relative weight is specific to each of 746 DG's (for fiscal year [FY] 2009) and represents the relative average cost of a beneficiary in one DG compared to another.

4) if applicable, additional amounts will be added to the IPPS payment for hospitals engaged in teaching medical residents, hospitals that treat a disproportionate share of low income patients, and for high cost outlier cases" (Acute Inpatient Prospective Payment System, 2009).

Physician services include office visits, surgical procedures, and other diagnostic services. These services are usually performed in physicians' offices,….

Health Care Finance
There is a clear relationship between the present value and future value factors.

According to the research, "the future value (FV) measures the nominal future sum of money that a given sum of money is worth at a specified timed in the future assuming a certain interest rate, or more generally, rate of return" (Smart Notes 2013). On the other hand, the present value is the exact value that is assigned based on the date of payment or previous series of payments that were made prior to the inquiry. They are related in the notion that they reflect compounding interest, which is the interest rate that is added to the original principle. As such, individuals can compute the potential future value factor using an equation that relates the present value. The equation can be seen below:

(Smart Notes 2013)

ased on this correlative relationship, the present value is impacted as the….

Healthcare Financial Management
To quote Jonathan Clark at the beginning of his article, "Improving the revenue cycle can be a daunting task due to the scope and complexity of the interdepartmental process." Of the suggestions offered by the authors, which concept(s) give you the greatest insight into creating an improved evenue Cycle process in the organization where you work (or one in which you are familiar)? Be sure to identify which article or author you are referencing.

In his comprehensive advisory article to improve the medical industry's revenue capturing capabilities, entitled Strengthening the evenue Cycle: A 4-Step Method for Optimizing Payment, Jonathan Clark provides a series of sensible solutions to the ongoing dilemma of payment optimization. David Hammer also provides guidance to healthcare finance professional in his article The Next Generation of evenue Cycle Management, by reminding them that the key performance indicators (KPIs) which dictated policy in previous years have been….

Through the use of statistical modeling the researcher was able to arrive at the validation of their hypothesis.
Assessment of esearch Findings

Based on the results of the statistical modeling used in conjunction with the Household Component of Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data set, it was found that tax subsidies do not have a differentially large or targeted effect on the prevalence of high burdens (Selden, 2008). Selden (2008) defines burdens as cash and wage equivalents of employer premium contributions. The results show that tax subsidies assist those above the poverty line more than those below it. The study is concluded prior to explaining why this is so, yet the author contends there are many other factors in addition to tax-based subsidies that have an impact on those below the poverty line being able to afford medical care even with tax-based subsidies.

Analysis

This research study shows that at statistically significant level….

(Menzel, 1990, p. 3) Fisher, Berwick, & Davis alude to the idea of integration in health care, with providers linking as well as creating networks of electronic medical records and other cost improvement tactics.
The United States and other nations over the last twenty or so years, have begun a sweeping change in health care delivery, regarding the manner in which health information is input, stored and accessed. Computer use in the medical industry has greatly increased over the last thirty years the culmination of this is fully networked electronic medical record keeping. (Berner, Detmer, & Simborg, 2005, p. 3) the electronic medical record trend began in the largest institutions first, as hospitals and large care organizations attempted to reduce waste and improve patient care, while the adoption has been much slower among physician's practices and smaller medical institutions. (Hillestad, et al., 2005, pp. 1103-1104) Prior to this time medical….

Based upon the fact the baby boomers are all approaching retirement age, it would be a good idea for the organization to pursue programs that are geared towards seniors. Programs that are geared towards seniors are a great way to produce quality comprehensive health care for those in the community that need it. The organization might pursue the idea of opening a PACE program. " The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) is a capitated benefit authorized by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) that features a comprehensive service delivery system and integrated Medicare and Medicaid financing" (Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), 2009). The PACE program features complete medical and social services that rely on an interdisciplinary team approach in an adult day health center that includes in-home and referral services depending on the person's needs (Program of All Inclusive Care for the….

Health Care Finance
Greenwald engages in a discussion comparing the U.S. health care system to, well, other health care systems. An interesting methodological fault is that Greenwald cherry-picks his examples. In one paragraph, he compares the U.S. with Canada, in other the UK, and in another Spain. he problem, methodologically, is that he can cherry-pick data from whatever country best suits his argument. What this means, in terms of interpretation, is that Greenwald's findings need to be taken with a grain of salt. As an example, Greenwald notes higher wait times in three countries for urgent coronary artery bypass. Nobody likes high wait times, but Greenwald's U.S. figure doesn't factor in the uninsured, whose wait time is infinity. hey just die. he issue many have with the U.S. system is not that performance is poor; it is that performance is only good when you can afford it.

his cuts to the heart….