Leveraging Labor Relations

specialty services feed into the financial greed among HMOs. The major bulk of hospital bills are paid

Health care cost has risen dramatically in the last decade. Health care plans have been forced to look at the quality of health care given by the providers so they can implement certain strategies to help reduce heath care costs. Managed Care describes a group of strategies that is looking to reducing the costs of health care for health insurance companies. (Kongstvedt 2007)

A movement in the financial sector in general is toward what has been called Impact Investing (Monitor Institute, 2008). Its purpose is basically to blend the values of making profits (or otherwise ensuring a strong return on one's investments) and generating socially responsible outcomes. For those in the healthcare field, these goals have become of paramount importance. Public monies for treating illnesses and ensuring good health overall seem to be less available at the same time that is a growing demand for hospitals and others to do a better job for those most in need of care.

The counseling model and financial model utilized by human resource departments are two types that work really well within the healthcare setting. As discussed by Fallon and McConnell (2007) the counseling model of human resources is generally used in the healthcare settings and other places where employees are a large part of the budget. Smita Navare (2008), states that the counseling model of human resources gives the organization four major benefits that will help any organization moving forward. These are: 1.

HMO’s and enrollees are two important players in the world of health care. Due to uncertainty on the supply and demand, moral hazard, and adverse selection, decision making for HMO’s more complex. The simulation provided me the decision making tools necessary, when making an economic decision for an HMO. Health care can be seen as a good that consumers demand and managed care firms are considered to be suppliers of both health insurance and health care. Economics tells us that rational firms make choices to maximize profits. Managed care firms incur cost when providing health care services to their enrollees and maximize their revenue by

This is when a group of staff or workers is formed into a labor union. These unions play a big role in the firm as they can talk about issues between each other. An example is when there is a problem with the staffs pay amount of even the working conditions.

Employers are continuing to face rising health benefit costs and are constantly looking for alternatives to control these escalating costs. Health benefit premiums continue to increase at a double digit pace for employers and employees (Poor, Ross & Tollen, 2004). This escalation is putting environmental pressures on all impacted stakeholders, including insurance and health care providers. Companies and insurance providers are squeezing this industry to get a handle on cost while still providing an appropriate level of care. This cycle puts the patient front and center as the ultimate stakeholder who incurs changes in health benefits.

Despite many financing methods in the United States, such as insurance premium, taxation, and out-of-pocket, there are still issues that challenge the government, the population, and individual in reimbursing the healthcare expenditure. One of the reasons in confronting such financing burden is the ultimate increase of health care

Rising health care cost has challenged organizational leaders to develop new strategies and initiatives to reduce cost. New initiatives are important because the rising health care cost often interferes with an organization's ability to make a profit or stay in business (Littler, 2007). Possible initiatives for combating rising health care cost could be shifting all responsibility to employees or redesigning the benefit where both parties share the responsibility. Some organizational leaders have chosen the strategy of shifting costs to employees over redesigning their benefits system to combat rising health care cost (Larsen & Pomeranz, 2009). The redesigning of the system could include dropping health insurance coverage for employees (Blumenthal,

The major difference between healthcare finance terminology and business finance terminology is that these terms focus on factors unique to the health services industry. For example, the provision of health services is dominated by not-for-profit or¬ganizations (such as ours), which are inherently different from investor-owned businesses. Also, the majority of payments made to health¬care providers for services are not made by patients—the consumers of the services—but rather by some third-party payer (e.g., a commercial insurance company or a government program). Even the purchase of health insurance is dominated by employers rather than by the individuals who receive the services. These terms emphasize ways in which the unique features of the health services industry affect financial decisions. The healthcare industry is a service industry. It is not in the business of manufacturing, say, widgets. Instead its essential business is the delivery of healthcare services. It may have inventories of medical supplies and drugs, but those inventories are necessary to service delivery, not to manufacturing functions. Because the business of healthcare is a service, this overview of key healthcare terminology will focus on the practice of financial management in the services industry.

A labor or trade union is an organization of workers dedicated to protecting members' interests and improving wages, hours and working conditions for all. This includes mechanics, construction workers, doctors, engineer’s and even entertainment artists. When issues arise between an employee and an employer, the employee can notify their labor union to help negotiate and bring about change. In many cases, a labor union can successfully negotiate with an employer through collective bargaining or through grievance procedures. In the case of a dispute not being settled, a labor union can take other measures to resolve the issue. For instance, if I were a representative of a Hollywood union, tasked with settling complaints from various actors and

and shift or they can redesign and improve. By redesigning and improving our health care market place

Additionally, increase in health care cost also impacts the governments share of health care spending thereby increasing taxes, or increasing long-term borrowing. Increased government borrowing to finance health care spending growth has a similar impact on the availability of resources for other activities. As interest rates increase due to government borrowing, the cost of capital to firms and households also increases.

The major difference between healthcare finance terminology and business finance terminology is that these terms focus on factors unique to the health services industry. For example, the provision of health services is dominated by not-for-profit or¬ganizations (such as ours), which are inherently different from investor-owned businesses. Also, the majority of payments made to health¬care providers for services are not made by patients—the consumers of the services—but rather by some third-party payer (e.g., a commercial insurance company or a government program). Even the purchase of health insurance is dominated by employers rather than by the individuals who receive the services. These terms emphasize ways in which the unique features of the health services industry affect financial decisions. The healthcare industry is a service industry. It is not in the business of manufacturing, say, widgets. Instead its essential business is the delivery of healthcare services. It may have inventories of medical supplies and drugs, but those inventories are necessary to service delivery, not to manufacturing functions. Because the business of healthcare is a service, this overview of key healthcare terminology will focus on the practice of financial management in the services industry.

Answer The labor relations role is typically making provision of advise to managers in regards to labor relations issues that arise in their areas of responsibility. The workforce in this company is comprised by employees represented by unions and other employees who are not union-represented as well as