Relative Financial Norms And Standards Within The Hospital Industry

As discussed previously, the Affordable Care Act of 2010 passed by the legislature, drastically changed the entire healthcare economy. In fact, ever since the ACA was passed it was required by law for hospitals to increase the amount of attention given to the individuals of the community in order to meet their needs. Also, the ACA allowed close to 10 million individuals to have health insurance through Medicaid and private health insurances, which has a high impact on all the hospitals, such as Yale New Haven. For example, since millions of Americans can now afford health insurance, there is a large influx of patients who can go to hospitals and actually afford the overall cost. The non-profit hospital of Yale New Haven is benefiting in two ways. First, they are achieving their mission by caring for the individuals of their community who now have insurance and secondly, they are being compensated in terms of revenue to improve their organization in regards to hiring the greatest physicians and having the best technology and supplies to treat their large influx of patients (Cunningham, 2015). The rise in health insurances increases the total amount of money earned by that non-profit organization and the amount of patients receiving great quality of care.

Transitioning to this model is not as easy as it seems. Businesses such as hospitals will have to educate all health care workers on the foundations of a value based care system so that the highest quality of care is obtained for each patient and a satisfactory rate of patient outcomes are optimized. Health care providers may have trouble transitioning because there not used to being rewarded off patients outcomes, but rather off increasing revenue by preforming as many procedures as possible, some not even under the scope of evidenced based practice and medicine. Smaller

The increase in individuals acquiring health insurance, due to the Affordable Care Act, causes an increased demand for physicians and physician services (ProCon.org, 2015). As a result of these increases, hospital systems are being face with what is now their biggest challenge, financial burden. The number one financial burden is medical reimbursement. However, stemming from the burden of medical reimbursement, several other challenges are brought forth, such as operating costs and the increased costs for staff, supplies, etc (Ache.org, 2016). Leaders within the hospital setting are having to adjust certain aspects of their operating system in order to keep their hospital systems afloat.

In the ever changing dynamic of the healthcare industry, it is central to look at financial trends and different types of financial analysis to capitalize on resources and minimize future impacts. With any growing healthcare organization it is vital to be aware of one’s internal and external environment, the community it serves as well as the status of the economy. The purpose of this paper is to determine the significance of certain types of financial analysis, particularly financial ratios, the use of EBITDA and how they influence the healthcare field.

There is significant opportunity and a tremendous need to improve health system performance in the United States. The U.S. health care system is the costliest in the world, yet it ranks last or next to last on five dimensions of a high-performance health system quality, access, efficiency, equity, and healthy lives. Within our own borders, there is wide variation in performance across states on indicators of access, quality, and costs, demonstrating that. Although, there is much to learn about improving quality and efficiency better performance is clearly achievable with targeted policies and actions.

This article is about today’s healthcare marketplace have broad demand for greater value in healthcare face two obligations according to HFMA survey. Those obligations consist of reducing costs for existing services, optimizing the efficiency with which those services are delivered and develop the infrastructure and capabilities required to thrive in the emerging value-based payment and care delivery environment (HFMA 2015). HFMA research seeks to understand the challenge organizations face today is not simply to contain costs, but rather to reconfigure cost structure so that spending reductions in one area can free up resources needed for new investments in another (HFMA 2015). Dan Piro, president of MedAssets Advisory Solutions, notes:

The United States has an incredibly complicated and expensive healthcare system. Many health insurers and other organizations across the country have dramatically changed the way they do business in order to stay competitive, especially with the new climate that laws such as the Affordable Health Care Act have created. These organizations have developed new strategies and processes in order to participate in the insurance exchange program and other features of the federal healthcare law intended to make it cheaper and easier for individuals and small businesses to purchase health care (Benson, 2013). This essay discusses how a healthcare organization such as a hospital would develop

As a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, beginning in October 2012, US hospitals will begin having their payments from Medicare affected by the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program. Essentially, this legislation will shift the way hospitals are reimbursed for services from a focus on quantity to a focus on quality. The following research study will examine the background of this legislation, how it is structured, and the pros and cons of this reform.

In this paper, I will use financial data and research of a publicly traded healthcare company to give an analysis of the selected company’s financial status.

Financing the United States (U.S.) health care system is complicated and difficult at best. The role policy makers and health care professionals play in the reform and restructuring of the U.S. health care system is very important. The overarching consideration of supply and demand in the U.S. health care system relies on a workforce, financing, and cost of delivering quality healthcare to the U.S. population (Knickman & Kover, 2015). To improve overall quality of care, healthcare providers and policy makers have to look at how services are going to be structured in the future. In this essay we will be exploring how health care services can be financed and at what level: government, state, local or private, is there a way to deliver cost effective and accessible heath care, and consider the ethical dilemmas related to achieving quality, accessible, national health care.

I have tweaked my proposal a bit. I’d like to focus on the strong competition hospitals are facing from freestanding health facilities such as imaging centers, retail centers, and urgent care centers. With health care moving toward a value-based care system and payment method, independent care center have emerged. These centers promote patient consumer power within the health care system (Grube, Cohen, & Clarin, 2014). Thus, making major retail companies, imaging and surgical centers, and urgent care centers viable competitors in the health care market (Grube, Cohen, & Clarin, 2014). All of the entities compete with hospitals to offer service such as well-care services. Hospitals may find it difficult to compete with the care centers’ affordable pricing by matching more appealing prices. As patients learn more about healthcare they are empowered to decide where to go for services and how much to pay for services (Grube, Cohen, & Clarin, 2014).

With the cost of healthcare rising at an alarming rate, there are many challenges that can also arise that can range from physician turnover rates to malpractice costs. As a result of this practices are seeking ways to maximize their resources so that they can remain profitable.

The “Distress Detectors” article presents highly useful ways to use ratios for improvement the heath care organizations. There are seven helpful ways described in the article for health care financial executives can use for assessing their organization financial state. The types of measures mentioned are cleverley’s financial strength index, altman’s modified z score, and the others are cash-flow based. For instance, operating cash flow ratio, funds flow coverage ratio, cash flow to total debt ratio, and total free cash flow ratio are the ways to assess the finance in facilities, (Price, Cameron, & Price, 2005). It’s vital for all health care investors, management, and board members donors to be involved of the organizations financial status as well as data. Health care investors, executives, etc, must ensure true financial condition is met of financial information. Preventing small mistakes and small mistakes is a general requirement. Taking quick action is crucial and if financial distress is happening, any additional damage must be prevented. It’s understood hospital management fails to see financial distress and more damage escalates. For weak hospitals, they

Hospitals are seen as organizations established to protect the health and enhance the quality of life of the communities they serve. While this is indeed true, hospitals are also a business, and as such have the burden of remaining profitable. Chief Financial Officers of health care organizations are tasked with the daunting job of balancing the budget. In an industry of constantly changing methodology and technological advances, credit ratings are increasingly important.

This analysis serves to explore the General Medical and Surgical Hospital industry, which is comprised of companies that provide medical, diagnostic and treatment services to people on an inpatient and outpatient basis at specialized medical, surgery, emergency and other healthcare facilities. Hospitals maintain inpatient beds and usually provide other services such as outpatient services, operating room services and pharmacy services (First Research, 2014). These hospitals offer a variety of services which require varying time in the facilities. “Major services include inpatient hospital care (about 60 percent of industry revenue) and outpatient services that typically don 't require an overnight stay (about