Alpine Village Clinic is located in a winter resort near the city of Aspen, Colorado. Although open year around, it is mostly a seasonal business since the bulk of patients seen at the clinic walk in during the winter months of December to March, when skiing is in full swing and pertaining injuries are common. The doctors thought about closing the clinic during the summer months, however running the clinic for a portion of the year is inefficient, and in addition, there seems to be a sufficient summer demand for the clinic’s services. The two doctors who run the clinic are Dr. James Peterson, who is an orthopedist and Dr. Amanda Cook, who is an internist. Dr. Cook usually handles all the financial work for the clinic (besides payroll which is taken care of by an outside accountant). However, the clinic hired a part-time MBA student named Doug Washington. In October of 2009, the clinic’s primary lender, the First Bank of Aspen requested from the clinic an estimate of its borrowing requirements for the first half of 2010. For that, Dr. Cook asked Doug to come up with an estimate of the clinic’s line of credit, as well as prepare a cash budget.
On the basis of the clinic’s previous collections experience, Dough was able to convert billings for medical services into actual cash collections. On average, about 20% of the clinic’s patients pay immediately for services rendered. Third-party payers pay the remaining claims, with 20% of the payments made within 30 days and the 60% remainder (of total billings) paid within 60 days. For monthly budgeting purposes, 20% are assumed to be collected one month after the billing month, and 60% are assumed to be collected two months after the billing month.
Variable costs for the clinic are ...
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...and the useful life of the machine should be calculated. Then, depending on the method used, the total cost of the machine is considered as a long term asset and depreciated over the life expectancy of the asset.
Another consideration that the clinic should take into account is the external environment. The seasonal patient volume and the bank agreement may be the main aspects of concentration. Although the relationship between the bank and the clinic is defined in the case, Alpine Clinic should consider alternative solutions or alternative organizations to finance its needs. Also, the clinic should estimate the possible changes in the economic environment in the next years and the impact of them in the serving population of the clinic.
Work Cited
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Abbey, D. C. (2010). Healthcare payment systems: Fee schedule payment systems. CRC Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=1uxIcqBAu_EC&dq=fee schedule payment system&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Miller, H. D. (2009). From volume to value: better ways to pay for health care. Health Affairs
Obtaining a loan can also help Elijah Health Center bridge a working capital shortage gap. An attractive loan option should not only offer low interest but should also be easier to service. The loan option is flexible in terms of payment as it allows for an earlier repayment. In spite of high interest rate, loan option 1 enables EHC bridge its capita...
Robert G Thompson, MD and his Soldotna and Anchorage teams understand that finding the right health clinic for your unique needs is a difficult and often impossible task. Yet, as a patient, it is extremely important that you do not compromise when selecting a health care team to work with. There are many criteria to evaluate before settling on a health clinic, but the most important should be whether or not the clinic’s team is willing to work with you to provide the support and care you need to maintain optimum health for your mind and body.
In this paper there will be an understanding of the California Sutter health system, which will in tail about the efforts of the California Sutter health system to increase the point of service collections. Not to mention the improvement of the overall revenue cycle. Though, not to go into grave detail on what the paper is fully about, this will be said though, that in order for some of the things to happen there were steps to be taken such as the measure of performance in benchmarks. Then to mention it will also talk about how each registration is analyzed while using the rules of engineering to show what problems their patients leave at the registration desk. With that being said lets dive right into the paper following the abstract there
It is very important that we utilize cost control methods in the health care field. The reason being is that about 10% of the population, usually with chronic to severe problems, use approximately 70% of the total spending (Shi, & Singh, 2008). If we didn’t monitor the costs and spending we wouldn’t be using the money efficiently. To avoid potential problems we frequently use six different cost control methods to monitor what medical services are necessary, the most cost efficient way for these services to be provided, and keep an up to date chart of the patient’s condition to offer only treatment deemed necessary.
Buchbinder, S., & Shanks, N. (2012). Introduction to health care management (2 ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Healthcare clinics are under a great deal of pressure to reduce costs and improve quality of service. In recent years, healthcare organizations have concentrated on preventive medicine practices and have tried to reduce the length of time that patients stay in a hospital. Outpatient services have gradually become an essential component of healthcare. Organizations that cannot make their outpatient component cost-effective are finding themselves financially burdened in this ever-changing industry (Caldwell, 2005).
Fernec, D. (2014). Understanding hospital billing and coding. (3rd ed.). Saint Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders.
Stephen Jonas, Raymond G, Karen G, “An Introduction to the US healthcare System” 6th Edition, Page 118, 25 May 2007
This paper will discuss the Neighborhood Family Clinic in the Madison area with a brief description of the facility which a free-standing building with an adequate waiting area with the capacity to hold up to twenty to twenty-five patients. The building is brick with squared darkened bubbled glass windows that cover both the east and west sides of the building. The front of the building sits slightly to the side of the parking lot it has two glass doors that lead to a small foyer which meets another glass door. Upon entering the facility the check-in desk is about six to eight feet from the door. The check-in or reception area has two desk where the receptionist greet the patients, check-in patients, collect money for co-pays or sliding scale
The purpose of this paper is to examine the Heritage Valley Medical Center case study. The paper will start off with a brief background of Heritage Valley, along with a summary of the major problems and issues faced there. Next, the author will explain the role that was chosen while addressing the challenges of Heritage Valley and their reasoning in doing so. The author will then identify the strengths and weaknesses of Heritage Valley and offer to select the best alternative and recommended solutions, which will be followed by a brief description of the evaluation plan that could be used to measure the effectiveness of the recommended solution.
There are several factors that contribute to the complexity of the revenue cycle. Frequent changes in contracts with payers, legislative mandates, and managed care are just a few examples of reasons why revenue cycle in the healthcare industry is so complex. Furthermore, the problems that arise in the steps of the revenue cycle further complicate the whole process. For example, going through the steps of the revenue cycle efficiently is extremely difficult when it is managed by poorly trained personnel. Furthermore, if a healthcare provider does not have the proper information system to track patient records and billing, receiving reimbursement can become difficult. In addition, one of the main factors that delay payments is denial from the insurance companies. The reason for Denial includes incorrect coding, the certain sequence of care and medical necessity or even delay in submitting claims. Lastly, inefficient patient correspondence can not only hinder the process of revenue cycle but also result in many patient complaints (Wolper, 2004).
The financial statements from Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) were used to calculate and analyze the meaning of the financial health of the organization from the years 2010-2012 (Appendix A). The following five major types of ratios were used: common size, liquidity, solvency, efficiency, and profitability
Depreciation is the decline in the future economic benefits of a depreciable non-current asset through wear and tear and obsolescence. It is an allocation process. It can be calculated by two main methods, each reflecting in a distinct prospect in the way the asset is used. Depreciation is to be treated as an estimated expense that does not set aside cash for the replacement of a non-current asset. In determining the cost of acquisition of the lathes, any capital expenditure made must be added to the purchase price of the lathes. This amount will be considered as the historical cost and will be used in calculating the depreciation expense