Essay about Portland Cancer Center

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is a non-profit organization that helps battle pediatric cancers. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is not your typical children’s hospital. The services and support they provide to their patients is unique as their founder Danny Thomas. I will explore their founder’s history, mission, and how they are able to continue the work today.

Nurses are in a great position to advocate for the patient when working with the other members of the healthcare team, and even the patient themselves to achieve a focused outcome. As a student nurse, I keep the patient at the center of my care regardless of the situation. This can be hard, as sometimes in the healthcare field the lines can be blurred by differences in the opinions of healthcare workers and family members, as well as influences of circumstantial factors. The way that I advocate for my patients is by being aware of my patient’s needs and want, and expressing these needs when the patient can’t.

Purchasing new MRI scanners for the hospital is a good idea for the hospital because although expensive for the first time purchase, the maintenance issues will be less. Any product reused or refurbished automatically requires more maintenance. The only time a refurbished item is very good in comparison to the average life span of a new one is if all of the mechanics have been completely replaced with brand new pieces and the body of the machine is the only thing refurbished but that would be very unlikely. Maintenance costs is what will be cut over time and in the end the hospital will be happy that they purchased new medical machinery. It ensures that the machine will do the job correctly the first time around and doctors have more accurate results for patients.

6. How does the current reimbursement level of $140,000 per case affect a decision to use or not use marginal cost pricing? Does the amount of excess capacity affect the decision? Why?

When considering requests such as a new piece of equipment, staff training, and supplies for the unit, a manager must consider the overall budget, constraints, and variances. If equipment has a useful life of more than one year and exceeds the minimum cost level of the facility, the manager may request the cost originates from the capital budget of the facility (Yoder-Wise, 2012). Large equipment such as a patient lift, which costs $3000 per lift, would be beneficial to the staff and

Another method to detect this cancer is with a Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). Protein in the blood that is produced only by prostate cells is reflected the volume of both benign and malignant prostate tissue in the PSA. The higher the PSA level is the more likely it is that Prostate Cancer present. (“Prostate

Patients who use peritoneal dialysis change their own cleansing solutions at home, usually about six times per day. This procedure can be done manually when active or automatically by machine when sleeping. However, the patient’s overall condition, as well as the positioning of the catheter, must be monitored regularly by nurses and technicians at the Dialysis Center (Gapenski, pg. 27-28). The Outpatient Clinic currently takes up 80 percent of the space it shares with the Dialysis Center. The recent growth in volume has created a need of 25 percent more space for the Clinic. Its large size compared to the Dialysis Center and its patients frequent use of other departments in the hospital are justifications as to why it was decided to move the Dialysis Center to another building. Big Bend Medical Center currently doesn’t have adequate space to house the Dialysis Center, so it was also decided to build a new 20,000-square-foot building. This expansion and move were went to benefit both departments and help increase patient volume. The goal of increased patient volume is expected, but the directors and other department heads did not agree with the new allocation of indirect costs. In the past, facilities costs were aggregated, so all departments were charged cost based on the average embedded cost regardless of actual age of the space occupied. Since many department heads considered this

The facility is also in need of new equipment to make sure patients are receiving the proper care and to reduce costs in the long-term. The facility needs to purchase these machines. The machines needed are as followed: high-speed CT scanner, an x-ray machine, and an ultrasound system. There are a few different options when obtaining medical equipment and in this case the facility is purchasing new equipment, purchasing refurbished equipment, or obtaining an operation or capital lease. The best strategy for purchasing a high-speed CT scanner would be to purchase a refurbished machine. The useful and usual life of this equipment is approximately 10 years. Although the hospital may need to upgrade the technology of the scanner in five years, at this time buying a refurbished scanner is the best option. The hospital can upgrade the equipment at a later time extending the usual life of this device. This will be recorded as an asset, but at a lesser value. The loan rate is also low at 9%.

Daily billings are 20%, 20%, 60% collection based monthly and the lease payment is made on the first of the month (Gapenski and Pink, 2009). Variable medical costs at the clinic are assumed to consist entirely of medical and administrative supplies. These supplies, which are estimated to cost 15 percent of billings, are purchased two months before expected usage. On average, the clinic pays about half of its suppliers in the month of purchase and the other half in the following month (Gapenski and Pink, 2009).

The rationale for the educational initiative is a needs assessment that was conducted identifying the skill sets and knowledge of the staff at NYHQ. The needs assessment process resulted in findings that the staff required education in the safe and proper administration of chemotherapy since the facility is a leader in cancer care including a breast center, gynecologic, oncology department, patient testing unit, radiation oncology department, oncologic surgery unit as well as medical oncology unit.

What population do you believe you will serve with this facility? The population I will be serving are adults (that had certain surgeries that need at least over 30 days of care) and the geriatric population that need services after surgery such as knee replacement, and hip

Partnerships with institutions: various institutions, which offer quality training, have sought to partner with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The hospital has cases to high quality research labs and equipment in addition to a diverse number of patients, which can offer a great foundation for academic research. By partnering with high class institutions, the hospital will gain a three pronged advantage: on the one hand, there will be access to some of the best talents still under training. Such talent can be specifically trained to join the center. Secondly, the center will still be part of ground breaking research while managing the cost of hiring scientists. And finally, the center will be able to contribute towards furthering medical

Cancer is a group of diseases that affect nearly every tissue or organ in the human body, and is the second leading cause of death in the United States. In 2007, lung cancer was the leading cause of death among males and females in Marin County, California (Marin Health & Human Services, 2007). Located in Marin County, Sunshine Hospital is a 235-bed teaching facility with generating revenue of more than $700,000,000 during 2007. The Hospital employs 1,220 employees, of which 698 are multidisciplinary physicians. Sunshine Hospital has renowned regional cardiology and oncology programs, and specializes in lung

There are two bits of information that would be vital to determine the option that would have the most cost effect, staff satisfaction and patient safety. The first being what the census has been running on the unit as well as the acuity of the patients. But with the information provided, I will go through each of the options to see which is the best option.

One thing that is consistent in healthcare is that healthcare is forever evolving. With the concept of evolution, one particular area that plays a major role in how the healthcare system evolves is revenue. In addition, healthcare facilities receive payment for the services provided. When exploring healthcare services reimbursement there are checks and balances that must take place. The healthcare provider orders services such as radiology and laboratory services that can be provided to a patient. Next, the facility sends a claim to the insurance company. Depending upon how the healthcare facility has coded the service and the documentation deeming the service as medically necessary determines if the facility receives payment for those services. This research is focusing on the laboratory in relation to healthcare reimbursement. To start, one must focus on the background of healthcare reimbursement and how it pertains to the laboratory. Next, it is important to look into the practices of reimbursement in the laboratory for the services provided including the rates that are currently enforced. Lastly knowing what fees will aid in the laboratory receiving the maximum reimbursement.