Sensitivity analysis is a technique used to determine how different values of an independent variable will influence a particular dependent variable under a given set of assumptions. The presentation describes elements that affect health care staffing at Patton-Fuller, such as raises in wages and changes in the nurse-to-patient ratio. Sensitivity Analysis, Health Care Case Study In accordance to the statement of revenues and expenses of the health facility, financial ratios are on the decrease. This implies that a pay rise to staff would actually lead to a decrease in net income. The financial report of year 2008 and 2009, show that there has been an increase in expenses by a margin of 10%. In order to overcome this challenge, Patton-Fuller community hospital need to work on expanding the sources of revenues (Patton hospital) Patton-fuller Community Health Facility should consider using electronic health records which provides clinical decision support, physician order entry, captures and queries information relevant to health care quality. They should also exchange electronic health information with, and integrate such information from other sources (Healthcare Financial Management, 2007). Implementing the use of Electronic Health Records (HER) would lead to accurate payments during new procedures, fewer rejected and improper claims, improved disease management and better understanding of health conditions and heath care outcomes (Jaynelle, 2009). Another implication would be the staffing of the community hospital. This would imply an increase in expenses. If the facility were to forego one of the two crucial matters, then staffing of the facility would suffer. A reduction in staff members would lead to a decrease in expenditure but negatively affect nurse-to-patient ratio. The Government is proposing for staffing ratios to be legislated, which will have a positive impact on the nurse but the Panton-Fuller health facility will now have to be prepared for a financing uncertainty (Jaynelle, 2009). The patients’ insurance costs and patient fee charged increases proportionally. In addition, they can try to work on low interest rates and reducing the non-cash expenses that lead to depreciation. Patton-Fuller hospital needs to embrace technology to cut costs. It is clear that, Platton-Fuller health facility suffers poor revenue collection in accordance to the financial statement of 2009. This reflects to less income that used to increase the number of staff. This also harbors the nurse-to-patient ratio. In the current situation, the number of staff in the facility is small (Patton hospital). Poor capital planning is an obstacle in staffing of the community health facility.
In addition to this business plan, we must also address the financial issues plaguing this organization. To illustrate some of these issues lets look at some of the trends here at OCB and within our Industry: For example, OCB’s clinic operations profitability in 1990 was 60%, and now in 1996 our profitability is only 37%, which is down 23 percentage points! We can blame some of this on rising costs of overhead, consumables, etc, however this is happening as the industry as a whole is growing 5% annually, and as our customer base, largely senior citizens, population is growing at almost 1% as year. We should be capitalizing on these industry trends, however, as you all know, not all the trends work in our favor. For example, our lifeblood, the Insurance company’s managed care organizations, and government healthcare reimbursement programs shows a downward trend of allowable payments for our services (DRGs) For example in 1995 the DRG price of ...
After analyzing the Coastal Medical Center, it is apparent that the employees and staff have no conception of the mission, vision, and values of this health care facility. In addition to this lack of structure, CMC has many projects in the midst of production that lack support of a common goal, employees are unsatisfied with their jobs, the two boards lack ability to agree on strategic decisions for the organization,, and the medical center has a dismal reputation when it comes to quality care.
Buchbinder, S.B., Shanks. N. (2007). Introduction to healthcare management. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers Inc.
The nurse executive is responsible for budget planning for the division. Areas of focus include strategies to improve productivity and feasible tactics to reduce agency staff and overtime (OT) for the division. Identified in this paper is the importance of operational and financial performance indicators for the organizations internal goals. Focus on benchmarking through data analysis is vital. In addition, setting realistic goals that are compulsory to promote cost savings, while maintaining patient safety as a priority is important in creating an improved patient experience. In planning for modifications to obtain a favorable budget, adjusting full time equivalents (FTEs) to fluctuating volumes is important. To improve the productivity plan effectively are evaluation and management of scheduling, staffing, and skill mix are necessary to obtain favorable productivity.
Buchbinder, S. B., & Shanks, N. A. (2007). Managing Costs and Revenues. In (Ed.), Introduction to Healthcare Management ( ed., p. pp. -). : . []. doi: Retrieved from
The ability of a unit to survive is largely dependent upon the hospitals internal financial budgetary performance and the external needs within the community. Developing a financial budget is a process that should use teamwork to plan and implement in order to be effective. The budget sets perimeters for administrators to follow throughout the year, allowing the director to report variances while providing guidance to maintain a minimum variance and adjust when possible (Finkler & McHugh, 2008). By using all department managers in the planning process of the new budget, the nurse executive is able to develop effective strategies for all departments while investing in the goals. This eliminates many problems associated with budget and identifies areas that need improvement or expansion. Because of the competition, declining margins, and other economic pressures, nurse executives need to take steps to control costs and increase revenues for this unit. The overall goal of the financial performance within the organization is to meet the total budgetary needs of the unit to produce favorable outcomes. My focus will be to propose the expansion of a new Joint Replacement Unit (JRU) within the hospital, while identifying the major operating components of the budget for this organization. The importance of reviewing the budget for a newly developed unit is to allow the nurse executive and administrative team to manage the existing organizational programs within in the facility, plan for goal accomplishments for the new unit, while controlling costs.
Hospital A before the merger was a for-profit hospital, relatively new facility, in east side of town. It consisted of 110 hospital beds, 8 of which were reserved for transitional care. Services provided were: general surgery and same day surgery, full-service rehabilitation department and radiology department. Other services included kidney dialysis center, on-site retail pharmacy, blood bank, women’s center e...
It was just yesterday when Electronic health records was just introduced in healthcare industry. People were not ready to accept it due to higher cost and consumption of time associated in training people and adopting new technology. Despite of all this criticism, use of Internet and Electronic Health records are now gaining its popularity among health care professionals, as it is the most effective way to communicate with patient and colleagues. More and more hospitals and clinics are getting rid of paper base filling system and investing in cloud base storage.
Healthcare professionals associated with medical billing and coding know the progress the technology has made so far. In the last few decades, medical billing and coding has switched from being a paper-based system to a computerized format. Under HIPAA laws, medical practitioners had to develop new software in order to send out electronic bills. With the advent of electronic medical records (EMR), with one touch of a button, doctors, Nurse Practitioners and PAs can gain access to all the care a patient has ever received from every healthcare facility the patients visited previously and can figure out possible illnesses. This enables statistical documentation of the population as a whole as well. EMR can also make the healthcare system more transparent and allow integration with reimbursement data. As the healthcare system changes, this will prevent unnecessary costs and make it easier to get the reimbursements needed to treat a patient.
The nurse executive and team need to set realistic budgetary goals for subsistence when establishing a new unit. For the new unit to be successful financial staffs efficiency is essential in providing a high level of care. Generating a budget assist in detection of problems in the financial statement, delineating areas of improvement and concomitantly allow administrators to uphold and emphasize of excellence. The ultimate goal in meeting guidelines for the nurse executive and team for the JRU is to establish a collaborative approach, while investing the units in staying within the budget to produce a positive outcome.
...ck, T., Anen, T., & Soto, E. M. (2013). Nurse staffing: The illinois experience. Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/815065_3
This paper will identify the use of Electronic Health Records and how nursing plays an important role. Emerging in the early 2000’s, utilizing Electronic Health Records have quickly become a part of normal practice. An EHR could help prevent dangerous medical mistakes, decrease in medical costs, and an overall improvement in medical care. Patients are often taking multiple medications, forget to mention important procedures/diagnoses to providers, and at times fail to follow up with providers. Maintaining an EHR could help tack data, identify patients who are due for preventative screenings and visits, monitor VS, & improve overall quality of care in a practice. Nurse informaticists play an important role in the adaptation, utilization, and functionality of an EHR. The impact the EHR could have on a general population is invaluable; therefore, it needs special attention from a trained professional.
“There are two concepts in electronic patient records that are used interchangeably but are different-the electronic medical record (EMR/EHR) and the electronic health record. The National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT) defines the EHR as the electronic record of health-related information on an individual that is accumulated from one health system and is utilized by the health organization that is providing patient care while the EMR accumulates more patient medical information from many health organizations that have been involved in the patient care. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has been urging the healthcare industry to adopt the electronic patient record but initially
Also, these studies question those who are effected; in this case, those who are most effected, is everyone. Doctors and nurses spend the most time working within these systems, but the information that is put into these systems effects every individual in America, because it is their information. Because nurses are often considered “both coordinators and providers of patient care” and they “attend to the whole patient,” their opinion is highly regarded (Otieno, Toyama, Asonuma, Kanai-Pak, & Naitoh, 2007, p. 210). It is clear that the use of these new systems is much debated, and many people have their own, individualized opinion. This information suggests that when there is a problem in the medical field, those who address it attempt to gather opinions from everyone who is involved before proceeding. It has been proven by multiple studies that this system of record keeping does in fact have potential to significantly improve patient health through efficiency, and it is because of this that the majority of hospitals have already completed, or begun the transfer from paperless to electronic (Otieno, Toyama, Asonuma, Kanai-Pak, & Naitoh,
This paper describes a problem related to the increased cost of supplies and a decrease in productivity in the surgical services area of Celebration Health. A plan is developed based on these issues, which could aid the unit to become more efficient and cost-effective. This plan will emphasize being cost-effective without compromising quality and safety. Also, it will may improve the fiscal health of the surgical services department by eliminating unnecessary procedures, supplies, and labor, therefore increasing productivity.