...Financial Benchmarking Benchmarking Benchmarking is defined by Schneider as “the discipline of using comparative data to examine and measure the processes within an organization” (Schneider, 1998). Gapenski defines benchmarking as “the comparison of performance factors, such as financial ratios, of one business against those of similar businesses and industry averages” (Gapenski, 2012). Benchmarking is often called by its alias, comparative analysis. Benchmarking in the industry “enables you to compare details of financial, operational, and clinical performance to similar peer group data” (Cimasi, 2008). Financial Benchmarking Financial benchmarking is just one of many types of benchmarking. It is done in an effort to perform an assessment of an organizations competitiveness and productivity. According to Jack Partridge, vice president of the Chi Systems division of Superior Consulting, “Innovative solutions used utilized by other organizations serve as building blocks for new approaches and may, in fact, result in a new and improved solution. IT is a classic approach to not reinventing the wheel” (Schneider, 1997). Healthcare organizations that ignore the benefits of routine operation performance and financial analysis put themselves at risk of poor performance and ultimately, even failure. Article by Cimasi In the article, Financial Benchmarking Research and its Application to Healthcare Valuation by Robert James Cimasi, he discusses the factors that predict...
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...Thorpe HCS/571 April 13, 2014 Professor: Amy Reed Budget Management and Variance Analysis Healthcare organizations are faced with severe financial pressures resulting in extreme budget cuts. Consequently, nurse managers and financial managers are tasked with the responsibility of doing more with less while maintaining the high quality of care offered to its consumers. To accomplish the aforementioned tasks, managers use budgetary tools to help them focus on controlling cost while running an efficient operation. Budgeting gives managers the tools necessary to ensure the availability of required resources to meet the organization’s goals and objectives, communicate strategies and monitor results (Cleverly, Song & Cleverly, 2007). Finkler, Kovner & Jones (2007) offer that budgeting should be used to make the organization become more effective and efficient. It is not a tool for maintaining the status quo. Organizations use different approaches to introducing the budgetary process. Some organizations take the current year's budget update it for inflation and projected revenue growth. Others take a clean slate approach; compel managers to justify their expenses and staffing needs on an annual basis. Still other organizations forecast revenue and profit and assign expense rates to departments. However, the most effective budget is one that reflects the true financial position of the organization, provides flexibility and monitored against performance (Enge (n.d.)...
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...This term paper for unit two review three articles, Ethics Consultation in United States Hospitals This term paper also defines 8 financial terms. Keywords: Balance sheet, Shareholder Equity, EBITDA, EBITDAM, Financial Ethics, Financial Benchmarking, Financial Trend Analysis, and Ratio Analysis. Unit 2 Term Paper Business ethics is the appropriate business guidelines and customs regarding debatable issues, like the way a CEO runs his company, illegal stock trading, corruption, business social and monetary obligations. The government’s authorities frequently enforce business ethics, still there are times when businesses alone will use a straightforward structure that organizations can abide by so that they simply may benefit the public interest (investopedia.com, 2013). Article Review The first article chosen for this assignment, is Betsy Gallup’s article Ethics Are an Important Part of Running a Health-Care Facility, and she explains ethics as having three components: independence, integrity and objectivity (2009). The article continues by explaining ethics in the healthcare sector; as patients’ at a healthcare facility or hospital we expect to receive fair and ethical care from the facilities medical professionals attending to us. One expects the same ethical behavior from the healthcare workers that handle the coding and billing for one’s hospital stay (Gallup, 2009).Gallup tells us that the...
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...employees, offering a top rated benefits package to attract the best talent, and being up to date with their medical strategies within the home health industry. Plaza Home Health Services’ branding and identity strategy are lacking ingenuity and creativity, this must change if they wish to continue to have success and to push them to the forefront of their market. Plaza Home Health, (PHHS) does not have a marketing identity. PHHS is missing some of the major branding components that will help differentiate their business from competition, they currently do not have an identifiable logo, slogan or any other identifiable resource that represents who they are in the industry they have found a niche in that stands out to consumers. In healthcare logos stand out to consumers when they can identify the name quality of service with a familiar character or picture. It is imperative to this company if they wish to grow to invest in their marketing strategy and to include identifiers that will help spread knowledge their services and expand their consumer base. Conducting a marketing strategy includes collecting data to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) that are already present in the market. It is always...
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...be presented. Benchmarking techniques that may improve budget accuracy in future forecasts will also be concentrated on within the body of information presented Managing a Budget within the Forecasts According to Finkler, Kovner, and Jones, (2007), organizations exercise control over operations through the use of a management control system. The determination of whether a business is able to appropriately budget for future expenses, economic downturns, and risks is critical in today’s economic crisis. The methods by which a budget is created are specific and take into consideration several factors that provide target, actual, and variance results. The strategies used to create a budget vary among industry, organization, department, and/or manager just to name a few. Budget variances, strategies, and benchmarking techniques are critical to the final budget formulated for a business. A budget is a way to assist managers to follow a set strategic plan to ensure resources are used to efficiently to achieve the goals and follow the mission of the organization. A budget provides estimates of revenue, expenditures and financial performance of an organization for a designated time period. A budget may have projections that are monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. Estimates of future financial conditions can be obtained through a number of benchmarking techniques. A budget can assist an organization to assess operational efficacy, assess the financial viability and...
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...way not everyone has the same meaning. It can be define as such Risk management is a process for identifying, assessing, and prioritizing risks of different kinds. Once the risks are identified, the risk manager will create a plan to minimize or eliminate the impact of negative events. A variety of strategies is available, depending on the type of risk and the type of business. Outline Risk Management and Patient Safety: The Synergy and the Tension Integrating Risk Management, Quality Management, and Patient Safety into the Organization Benchmarking in Risk Management Risk Management Strategic Planning for a Changing Health Care Delivery System Using Never Events to Reduce Risk and Advance Patient Safety Governance and Board Responsibility to Assure Safety in Health Care Organizations 1. Introduction What is the goal or the idea behind risk management one of their focus is to reduce the financial risk other areas that may seem not important is the regulation. One of the principal issues facing health care risk management is governmental regulation. Over the last few decades, there has been a growing public demand for accountability in health care delivery. The consequent tightening of governmental regulation has led to a greater allocation of an organization's resources to regulatory compliance. Some states, including New York, enacted stringent incident reporting requirements for hospitals, requiring additional staff to investigate and prepare...
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...at least 35 miles away from any other hospital or CAH (What Are Critical Access Hospitals (CAH)?" n.d.). The limited size and the short stay being allowed to CAH's is to encourage a focus on providing the care for common conditions and the outpatient care, meanwhile referring other conditions to larger hospitals (What Are Critical Access Hospitals (CAH)?", n.d.). . The certification will allow Critical Access Hospitals to receive cost-based reimbursement from Medicare instead of the standard fixed payment rate, this compensation has been shown to enhance the financial performance of the small rural hospitals that have been losing money prior to the CAH conversion and has reduced to the hospital closure rates (What Are Critical Access Hospitals (CAH)?” n.d.). According to "What Are Critical Access Hospitals (CAH)?” CAH is not considered to be ideal for every hospital and that each hospital should look over its financial situation, the population that is serves and the care being provided to determine if the certification would be advantageous (n.d.). Quality Improvement There becomes...
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...1. Introduction What is the goal or the idea behind risk management one of their focus is to reduce the financial risk other areas that may seem not important is the regulation. One of the principal issues facing health care risk management is governmental regulation. Over the last few decades, there has been a growing public demand for accountability in health care delivery. The consequent tightening of governmental regulation has led to a greater allocation of an organization's resources to regulatory compliance. Some states, including New York, enacted stringent incident reporting requirements for hospitals, requiring additional staff to investigate and prepare such reports. Additionally, competition among hospitals has also fostered a greater concern over the community's perception of quality of care. Many hospitals have had to compete harder for patients as inpatient lengths of stay decrease and more procedures are performed on an outpatient basis. Risk management in the health care In the past risk management and quality improvement job was separate in the health care organization. Even though, the job function may have been different the goal was the same. Managing risks is the quality of services provided & the safety of patients, their careers & visitors. To manage risks to staff & subsequent risks to service quality. To manage risk of failing to meet national & local priority targets to manage risks to the efficiency of services...
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...improvement is a process of measuring and improving services that can help leaders understand the direction of quality the organization needs. This paper will include areas of potential quality improvement for the St. Joseph hospital that was selected during the QI plan part one previously. The paper will also discuss the areas of potential improvement for the organization, data needed to monitor improvement in performance areas, data collection tools used for performance information, and contrasting those tools. Also tools to measure and display QI data are also identified with types of information each tool measures and displays. Finally, the tools will also be compared and contrasted as well as describing how helpful they are for healthcare organizations. Areas of Potential Improvement for the Organization Quality improvements in hospitals are an essential in maintaining patient satisfaction and services for better performance. The process is to advance the quality of care and outcomes for patients using the services offered at the facility (Walker, 2012). At the St. Joseph Medical Center in the Denver metro area, areas of potential improvement have been identified for the organization. The areas are chosen for consideration of improvement will affect the organization financially and patient satisfaction. Each area has affect on the hospital and its function within the system internally. The areas of consideration for improvement...
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...(Jin, Shah, & Svoboda, September, 1995, 153(5)) Dennis Raphael of the CSJ Foundation for Research and Education, reinforces this concept: “Social determinants of health are the economic and social conditions that shape the health of individuals, communities, and jurisdictions as a whole. Social determinants of health are the primary determinants of whether individuals stay healthy or become ill.” (Raphael, 2008) The development of clinics has become increasingly more important since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Politics influence clinics because when laws such as these are put in place, federal funds will follow. These acts will make healthcare more accessible to millions of people in the United States. (Hobbs, Morton, Swerissen, & Anderson, 2010). There is increasing recognition of the crisis in primary care and the relatively poor U.S. population health. Tools that can measure morbidity burden in individuals and populations will further reveal the special contributions of person focused medicine that the primary care provides. The adverse effects of specialist oversupply on costs and quality are becoming clearer. The increasing recognition of the importance of an evidence base for health decisions will spotlight the benefits of primary care oriented health systems. New...
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...departments require reallocation of resources * II. Effectiveness of the Current Procedures in Place * A. Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requires hospitals * to treat every patient irrespective of the payer source B. Limited community resources forces uninsured population returning to emergency department for minor ailments C. Shrinking federal and state funding for medical assistance programs D. Current procedures do not address medical needs of the undocumented populations * E. Treating uninsured costs taxpayers more than $175 billion per year (KFF, 2008) F. Hospitals absorb more than $65 billion dollars per year in uncompensated care III. Affects of financial decision-making process A. Express/Urgent Care areas added to emergency B. PA added to Triage to treat minor health issues C. Sponsor Care Funds Created 1. Hospitals have created sponsor care programs designed to help alleviate the amount of debt created by an insured patient. The funding for sponsor care programs comes from direct donations from the community and are meant specifically for patients that are receiving services for uninsured. These programs are provided through the hospital doctor's government agencies and are awarded based on eligibility of the patient. These programs may cover a portion of the bill or the entire bill. The important aspect of these programs is that they are coming from donations and not...
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...Budget Management Analysis HCS/571 Financial Resource Management June 27, 2011 Dr. Lena Watson Budget Management Analysis Budget management analysis is used by mangers as a tool and helps determine that all resources available are being used efficiently. The budgets are determined yearly and are based upon the previous year’s budget and variances. This paper will discuss specific strategies to manage budgets within forecast, compare five to seven expense results with budget expectations, describe possible reasons for variances, give strategies to keep results aligned with expectations, recommend three benchmarking techniques, and identify those that might improve budget accuracy, and justify the choices made. Strategies to Manage Budgets Many strategies may be used to control budgets; managers and the chief financial officer of most healthcare organizations have the tools needed to manage the budget. By managing the budget the organization will be better prepared for the financial forecasts, which are the company’s future expenses. Some strategies and tools that will assist with managing the budget are zero based, activity based, performance based, cost variances and benchmarking. Zero based budgeting analyzes every expense within an organization and justifies the need and cost of each. Activity based costing is the gathering of the operating cost data, which is assigned to specific activities such as engineering. The performance dashboard uses the metrics of performance...
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...Benchmarking Productivity in Nursing is Useful Benchmarking is a quality improvement tool that determines who the best is, who sets the standard, and what the standard is. There are two main purposes for benchmarking. The first is to identify best practices to be applied in measuring and improving performance in an organization. The second purpose is to seek ways to improve the delivery of service through the efficient use of staff. For health care managers who are responsible for a variable expense cost center or department, maintaining appropriate levels of productivity is one of the greatest and ongoing challenges of the management process and requires constant research and advice regarding relevant productivity standards. Comparing one’s departmental operations with other successful operations of another organization is a useful source of benchmarking data and many health care managers depend on associates or outside consultants to provide data to assist in implementing new and effective strategies to improve staff productivity. There are three sources of productivity standards. The first source is internally developed historical standards where standards are based on past performances but do not provide information about relative efficiency. The second source is engineered standards where internal staff or outside consultants conduct a study of the work environment and define normal standards of productivity. The third source is a comparative group standard...
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...(encyclopedia).” Title 18 specifically addressed the age of 65 and older. Medicaid via Title 19 became a state –administered program that received funding of around 50% from the government. Its target including covering nursing homes, which are only covered for the first 100 days under Medicare. To me when I see a statistic stating that 1 million people enrolled the first year, that equates to a flooding of the industry, doctors and most likely more hospitals since they are associated to more expensive services. The next major milestone would be in 1972 when the Medicare eligibility age “was extended to individuals under the age of 65 with long-term disabilities and end-stage renal disease (cms.gov).” One of the crucial things needed for healthcare would be resources and planning ahead. This is why 1974 should be noted since it was the year that we see the National Health...
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...Frizell NURS/588 Linda Horton University of Phoenix Patient Safety Project Week Six Executive Summary One out of five falls results in major injuries such as fractures and head trauma. Medical cost for such falls are $34 billion yearly, and hospital cost account for two-thirds of the total of falls (CDC, 2013). Along with this information, hospital losses from falls occurring as inpatients have lost millions of dollars in revenue. Many of these fall can be avoided, and can also decrease extended inpatient care along with decrease profit loss. A process must be developed here at Davis Healthcare System (DHS), in response to patient falls, injuries and profit loss. In the Mission and Vision statement at the DHS, it states several key words: high-quality care, safety, innovation, patient-centered care, and that is the reasons that we must initiate the quality improvement plan immediately. Safety deals with lack of harm to the patient and Quality is an effective, efficient and focused direction that to get to safety. Our team of experts in quality improvement will use our mission, tools, communication along with collaborating with the patients to get to the root and cause of this problem. There are several ways to accomplish this goal, 1). Purchasing an item called Radio Frequency Identification floor mats 2). Lowering beds...
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