Healthcare Finance
Overview
The final project for this course is the creation of a written proposal.
While healthcare organizations differ greatly, managers in various departments in organizations must propose changes to processes, the purchase of new equipment, the addition of employees, and many other changes to executives and boards to obtain approval. For this course, you will place yourself in the role of a manager in an organization of your choice. You are tasked with creating a written proposal that will add value to an organization and will impact the budget. This may come in the form of adding updated equipment, changing a process to become more streamlined, and so on. You will be submitting your proposal to your instructor, who will be playing the roles of CEO and budgetary board, for consideration. This assessment will require you to defend your proposal in terms of the value added and the financial impacts to the organization, as you would need to in the real world.
You will select your organization from the following site to ensure that sufficient financial information is available for consideration: http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/current.pl?q1=0&q2=0&q3=. This SEC page is updated frequently, and you should look for a healthcare-related organization, such as a hospital, lab, or even a health insurance company. Whichever company you choose should have a 10-K form, which is the audited annual report containing financial information. If you are unable to find a healthcare organization this way, reach out to your instructor for assistance. You must confirm with your instructor that the topic or area of interest of your proposal will allow you to sufficiently answer all of the questions in the prompt below. You also have the option of selecting your place of employment, within healthcare, as approved by your instructor.
The project is divided into four milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Three, Four, and Six. The final project will be submitted in Module Seven.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
Articulate key managerial accounting principles in healthcare using appropriate terminology
Determine financial impacts in healthcare by analyzing major forces affecting the delivery of health services
Utilize financial statements to inform short-and long-term strategic planning
Craft high-level proposals that address budgeting consideration by justifying spending for healthcare services
Prompt
Your proposal report should answer the following prompt: Considering the major forces in healthcare today, what improvements or changes would you propose for your selected organization? How would your proposal add value to the organization, and what impact would your proposal have in terms of the financial and budgetary considerations?
Specifically the following critical elements must be addressed, but the proposal that you are creating may require you to address these aspects in a different order. Please organize your report in the manner that seems the most logical for your topic.
Introduction
What are the major forces affecting the delivery of healthcare today? Discuss these forces and their corresponding impacts on today’s healthcare environment.
Impact of Forces: What healthcare service and delivery opportunities and challenges exist because of the forces discussed above? Define the challenges and opportunities that exist for today’s healthcare leaders.
Opportunities: Based on your analysis of the major forces, impacts, and opportunities provided, consider the specific organization that you selected. What opportunities exist for this organization, and how do these opportunities relate to the big-picture view of healthcare?
Proposal: What is your proposal for addressing identified issues or improvements within your organization? In other words, what changes are you trying to incorporate in your selected organization?
Financial and Budgetary Considerations
Financial Statements: What financial statements will you utilize in making your proposal, and how will you use these statements?
Proposal Impact: What impact will your proposal have on the organization’s financial statements? Articulate the impact using appropriate terminology.
Flexed Versus Fixed: How would your proposal be different if using a flexed budget versus a fixed budget? In other words, how would the use of one type of budget versus the other impact your proposal, and how would your proposal impact the budget? (Evaluate the differences between a fixed and a flexed budget.)
Proposal Justification
Ratio Selection: What ratios will you use to support your proposal and why? Select the ratio or ratios that would be the most appropriate.
Ratio Results: Calculate the selected ratios and articulate the results using accurate terminology. What do the results tell you about the viability of your proposal?
Short-and Long-Term Impact: Based on your calculations and financial statement analysis, determine the short-term and long-term impact on the organization and the organization’s financials. What is the short-term and long-term financial impact of your proposal for the organization? How can you plan to strategically mitigate the impact on the financials of the company, or how will your proposal help inform strategic planning in the short and long term?
Closing Statement/ Conclusion
Added Value: What value will your proposal add to the organization? Justify the value or improvement your proposal will add for the organization, in consideration of trends in healthcare.
Justification of Proposal: How appropriate is your proposal based on your financial analysis? Justify your proposal based on the financials and budgetary considerations. If you feel that your proposal is not appropriate given your analysis, explain why, with support of your reasoning.
Milestones
Milestone One: Draft Proposal: Major Forces
In Module Two, you will submit a draft proposal for critical elements located in Section I, parts A and B (see above under Prompt), defining the major forces affecting the delivery of healthcare. You will be required to describe the opportunities and challenges as they relate to healthcare leaders. Additionally, you should include the types of leases that might be considered for financial operations. In your response, consider the opportunities and challenges for today’s healthcare leaders. The format should be a minimum of 2pages in length. This milestone is graded with the Milestone One Rubric.
Milestone Two: Healthcare Organization Selection
In Module Three, you will select a company within the healthcare industry that you will use later for your capital budget proposal research. You will submit the healthcare organization selection to the instructor to ensure that you are able to attend to each aspect of the assessment. The format should be a 2-to 3-paragraph journal entry. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.
Milestone Three: Draft Proposal: Capital Budget Item Selection and Opportunities Available for Proposal
In Module Four, you will submit a draft proposal for Section I, parts C and D. Using the approved healthcare organization and the information gathered, identify the capital budget item or items that will be used as the basis for the written capital budget proposal. You must include how the proposal recommendations reflect the big-picture view of healthcare. Refer to the Note on Operational Budgeting in Health Care (located in your course pack) for final project budget guidance. The format should be a minimum of 1page in length. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Three Rubric.
Milestone Four: Finance, Budget, and Justification
In Module Six, you will submit a draft proposal for Sections II and III. You will provide financial statement analyses, profitability ratios, and ratio analyses to support the capital budget proposal formulated in Milestone Three. You will also use financial calculations to support proposal recommendations and to explain the short-and long-term financial impact for the organization. The format should be a minimum of 2pages in length. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Four Rubric.
Final Product: Written Proposal
In Module Seven, you will submit a written proposal on your selected organization. You will provide an explanation of how the capital budget proposal supports the operational and strategic goals of the organization. You will be required to explain the value of the capital proposal in consideration of current trends in healthcare and to provide financial statement support and analysis. The written proposal should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. The final product will be graded using the Final Product Rubric.
