HSM 542 Health Finance
You Decide: Week 6
February 11, 2015

As the Chief Financial Officer is important to look for ways to improve cash flow and patient intake within Community Memorial Hospital. In light of the new information that was given from Bill Jacobs, the Human Resource Director at Commercial Intertech (CI), about the contract signed with MegaPlan Health. Community Memorial Hospital is not on MegaPlan Health’s Preferred Provider Network (PPN), and could potentially lose out on 9,000 patients in total from CI, without becoming a preferred provider. To become a preferred provider with MegaPlan Health, there are many prerequisites it requires within the contract upon signing. There are many qualms that have come up from this new contract being signed. The Chief of Staff stated that one-third of his patients come from CI, and if we do not sign the contract with MegaPlan Health, he plans on leaving our hospital. Our CEO has a great idea, to create our own counter-contract proposal in order to help keep some of our own practices in effect. According to our Business Office Manager, we cannot work with MegaPlan. She has worked with them in a different hospital and they make it impossible for claims to get approved, and when they are approved they are wrong. One of our CNO’s stated that we need to sign the contract with MegaPlan because our people will panic and we will potentially lose some of our best nurses.
I believe that it would be the best to follow the CEO’s idea and create a counter-proposal because it could help us in the long run. We could potentially lose many patients in the long run, which would be bad for the hospital. It is our responsibility as the hospital to make a difference in the well-being of the members of the community (Nowicki, 2011). Having the hospital within the community helps patrons not have to travel great distances for healthcare and with MegaPlan taking over we need to sign the contract (Nowicki, 2011). It is also our job as healthcare providers to form partnerships with nonprofessionals in the pursuit of individual, family and community healthcare (Nowicki, 2011).
In conclusion, it is important that we sign the contract with MegaPlan because of all the patients that we would lose with the changes that would go along with it. The plan with coming in with a counter-contract is also a good idea in order to show that we are trying to work with them.

Reference:
Nowicki, Michael, EdD, FACHE, FHFMA. Introduction to the Financial Management of Healthcare Organizations, Fifth Edition, 5th Edition. Health Administration Press, 06/2011. VitalBook file.