Operating Budget Proposal In 4-5 pages, describe the environmental forces that affect health care organization budgets. Propose a budget that includes organizational improvements. Explain how the budget aligns with the target profit margin and how financial performance will be measured. Health care organizations must meet basic clinical and financial targets to remain viable. The Affordable Care Act and the advent of accountable care organizations require increased attention to and skills for meeting internal organizational targets. Reimbursement from government payers is increasingly linked to the effective management of meeting expected performance measures. To do this, you must understand the concepts of internal and external benchmarks, the necessity for performance measurement, and how to determine appropriate targets relative to the type and size of the organization. It is helpful to ensure that when comparing organizational outcomes data, the external benchmark is comparable. Effective management of health care requires competence in health care finance. Successful health care executives not only understand operating, capital, and revenue budgets, they also understand why each of these budgets is important to an organization and which groups of stakeholders need to remain apprised of the status. To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. How can internal benchmarks be used to help identify best practices within an organization? How might an organization use external benchmarks to measure and monitor performance? What is a scorecard, and how is it used to track financial performance? Preparation The following resources are required to complete the assessment. Sample Operating Budget [XLSX]. This resource provides step-by-step guidelines for developing a budget, including a multiple-tab spreadsheet for a multi-year generic hospital budget. Parkland Hospital. (.). Developing a budget. Use the Sample Operating Budget to help you complete this assessment. The information represents the clinic’s operating budget for 2015 and 2016. You have been asked to prepare a budget proposal for 2017 for the group of physicians who own the clinic. Because you know the clinic needs new billing software and there is a request for a new MRI machine, you will need to factor these expenses into your proposal. You will also need to explain environmental forces that may affect the budget and how your proposal addresses those forces.
