The Hunter Holmes Mcguire Veterans Administration Medical Center

views of costs and the labor hours this can help create an appropriate budget and validate that the

A strong operating and capital budget should align with the strategic goals of Creekside Community Hospital, as well as ensure operational efficiencies and financial longevity. Planning capital purchases continually and for future years will allow Creekside to be competitive, which is a crucial factor in capital budgeting (Gapenski & Reiter, 2016). Vianueva (2011) suggests an inadequate capital budget process leads to a key problem area for hospitals. Cost allocation is a vital component of the capital budget process. Costs must be allocated to the appropriate departments or areas where they are incurred, as well as where revenues are generated. With Creekside Community Hospital exhibiting higher inpatient costs than outpatient costs, the hospital leadership should ensure accuracy so that managers have the information necessary to make sound, financial decisions currently and in the future related to staff support, equipment and supply purchase to name a few.

There are different types of budgeting that businesses typically use and those include Operating budgets, Capital Budgets and there are many subtypes that exist because a budget can also be created for special events, the recruitment and retention of new staff, and to manage the advertising expenses and return on investments for a business (Demand Media, 1999-2012). According to Demand Media (1999-2012), "An operating budget outlines the total operating expenses and income for the organization, typically for the period of a fiscal year. Capital budgets evaluate the investments and assets of the business, and a cash budget shows the predicted cash flow in and out of the business over a period of time” (para.2 ). According to the Cost-Benefit Analysis (2012), “Capital budgeting has at its core the tool of cost-benefit analysis; it merely extends the basic form into a multi-period analysis, with consideration of the time value of money. In this context, a new product, venture, or investment is evaluated on a start-to-finish basis, with care taken to capture all the impacts on the company, both cost and benefits. When these inputs and outputs are quantified by year, they can then be discounted to present value to determine the net present value of the opportunity at the time of the decision” ("Cost-Benefit Analysis," 2012).

A budget is essential for a company to succeed. Without these budgets, it is very hard to be able to see where all

3. Explain two methods that can be used in order to identify realistic estimations when developing a budget. [2.2]

Describe the budget process and how staff members at the unit level impact the budget.

However as of more recent, the focus has been to cut spending and this in turn has affected most notably, Veterans Affairs (VA) and their health programs. According to the VA, “VA is charged with fulfilling President Lincoln’s promise to care for those “who shall have borne the battle, and for ” their families and their survivors. To support this mission, the 2016 Budget provides $70.2 billion in discretionary funding for VA, a 7.9 percent increase above the 2015 enacted level. In addition, the budget includes $3.2 billion in estimated medical care collections, for a total discretionary budget authority of $73.5 billion (which includes $3.2 billion in Medical Care Collections) and $95.3 billion for VA’s mandatory benefit programs.” This increase in budgetary spending can be deceiving as the VA is also seeing an increase in the amount of veterans claiming benefits. So although there is a budgetary increase, it is not enough (a deficit) to fulfill all claims made by veterans and/or their families and therefore is causing the VA to make cutbacks in both military construction efforts, but more importantly in medical benefits that veterans receive. For instance, improving veterans access to medical care to include strengthening their benefits program is a matter of priority. As has been recently of subject in the news, wait times for veterans has been extreme and inefficient, at times to the detriment of the health of veterans. Although the increase is aimed at providing more physicians and improving the VA’s “physical” infrastructure, the budgetary increase lacks the foresight to address the growing veteran population in concurrence with the needed changes that are being proposed. In an article published in Military Times on

Once this is in place we then look at the budget that we are working with and we break down all of the items that are required and we allocate a proportion of the money to the various resources that are within the business plan. Once this has been completed, it then goes to management and stakeholders to look at and approve and then the grant, finances and funding are issued and received. 2.1 Budget setting is very important as it allows us to look at the money that we have as a whole, and it allows us to apportion this and ensure that we allocate various amounts of money to the various resources, bills, activities that we will need to complete. By seeing where the money is being spent, it allows us to make sure that we are not overspending in a certain area, and it allows us to allocate money sensibly and not overspend. It also gives us the opportunity to look at the spend and we have a meeting to address whether this is realistic and if there are any overspending taking

In terms of budgetary concerns, the hospital must constantly evaluate and assess the budgetary structure of the hospital and execution of that budget. Examples of things that should be looked out for include ordering supplies that are not needed, not ordering enough supplies, unnecessary and pointless tests being ordered, over-staffing and/or under-staffing, and so forth. If money and resources need to be allocated to get the job done effectively, then this should be the order of the day. However, waste should not be a part of the equation.

The steps to create a budget can prove more daunting than actually implementing the budget. Initially the health care organization’s mission and vision must drive the budget. Aligning the health organization’s core values with the budget will help the managers and director’s deciding the budget to stay focused on the task at hand. A careful balance of needs and wants that the health care organization is attempting to develop from the department heads will need to be balanced by the realistic goal of the present and future capital. The initial preparation should include feedback from the previous budget period so the managers can have guidelines for forming the upcoming budget. The managers should be given caps on the amount of money they can spend and should be transparent in where they will be spending the money (Liebler & McConnell, 2012, p. 230). A solid leader should a set time frame for development of the strategy, which must be given to the manager’s. Without a

A company's budget serves as a guideline in planning and committing costs in order to meet tactical and strategic goals. Tactical goals such as providing budgetary costs for daily operations, and strategic objectives that include R&D, production, marketing, and distribution are all part of the budgeting process. Serving as a guideline rather than being set in stone, the budget is a snapshot of manager's "best thinking at the time it is prepared." (Marshall, 2003, p.496) The budget is a method in which to reign-in discretionary spending, and will likely show variances between what costs have been anticipated and what costs are actually incurred.

According to Sullivan (2013), “Budgeting is planning and controlling future operations by looking at the actual results with planned expectations (Sullivan, 2013).” When it comes to planning, the review of goals and objectives, by the nursing staff and organization, determines the priorities along with directing the efforts of the organization (Sullivan, 2013). In the planning phase, the organization needs to know the demographics of the population served, sources of revenue, and the statistical data, which will include number of admissions or patient appointments, average daily census and length of stay, patient acuity, and projected occupancy or volume base for ambulatory for procedure-based units (Sullivan, 2013). When everyone looks at the projected occupancy or volume based on the units, these units are the wage, supplies, staff, regulatory changes, and organization changes (Sullivan, 2013). Managements look at the past expenses as a starting point to developing the budget, which historically adjustments can be made during the actual budget

Revenue Budgets within the health care field are defined as the listing of expected revenues of an organization usually on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. (Gapenski, 2013). Therefore being said within this timeframe it is required for all budgets to be documented, data pulled, and

This research paper is a brief discussion of budget management analysis. Budgeting is the key to financial management, and is the key to translates an organization goals or plan into money. Budgeting is a rough estimate of how much a company will need to get their work done, and provides the basis for evaluating performance, a source of motivation, coordinating business activities, a tool for management communication and instructions to employees. Without a budget an organization would be like a driver, driving blinded without instructions or any sense of direction, that’s how important a budget is to every organization and individual likewise (Clark, 2005).

The budget is an important basis for evaluating performance. It can provide benchmarks against which to judge success or failure in reaching goals and facilitates timely corrective measures. Budgeting forms the baseline for a company 's future performance. Managers create the budget anticipating financial conditions and market expectations for future periods. These managers calculate revenues and expenses for the period being budgeted. When the period reflected in the budget arrives, the managers compare actual expenses to the budget numbers and evaluate the department 's performance.