Healthcare Finance Research

Healthcare Finance Research

HSA 525

Healthcare Finance Research

Identify a healthcare agency through which you would like to discuss their financial planning and financial management practices and procedures. Using Nexis Uni and other outlets to find financial information for this entity, which is publicly accessible. Using it as a guide to answer the following questions:

1. Indicate the name of the organization.

The name of the organization is Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville Florida.

2. Provide some background context on the organization.

Baptists Health was founded in 1985 and has expanded to a network of five hospitals, all of them based in Florida, United States of America. Two out of the six hospitals are dedicated to heart treatment of patients and the other treating children. The whole hospital network has 1302 beds, 68234 admissions, 365,348 outpatient visits, and 7387 employees

(Health.UsNews.com, 2020). The hospital provides a myriad of services and has one of the best rankings in the country and the state. It is ranked number 2 in Adult specialties’ and children specialties’, nationally and it is ranked fifth in Florida. The hospitals provide a variety of services such as cancer treatment, cardiology and heart surgery, Gynecology, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Urology, and many pediatric services. The hospital also has many surgeries and replacement surgeries (Health.UsNews.com, 2020). Its patients have highly viewed Baptist hospitals for over twenty years; the hospital has viewed as one of the most preferred healthcare providers in the region. The goal of the organization is to give the best healthcare to its patients by providing the best medical and surgical care, using the latest technological equipment while providing highly personalized care for the patient and their family (Baptist Health, 2020).

3. Does it have a separate finance department and executives running the department?

Yes, the hospital has a separate finance department, and the head of this department is executive vice president and chief financial officer, Scott Wooten, with the assistance of senior Vice President of Finance, T. Scott Finnegan (Baptist Health, 2020).

4. What are the typical duties and responsibilities of financial managers within a healthcare organization? Do you feel these apply to this organization?

Healthcare Finance Managers are responsible for skilled management for the most cost-effective delivery of medical supplies and services. They must oversee all the different financial aspects of hospital services and give the best strategies to minimize costs. They must overlook day to day financial operations of hospitals, services provided by clinicians, physicians, and public health agencies. They must see over contracts, all the relevant financial reports, and analysis, as well as the budgeting of these activities (Wells, 2017). The most significant of these tasks is strategic budget preparation and the accomplishment of those targets. All these responsibilities fall on the financial department heads of the hospital as they need to keep the hospital on its toes when it comes to monetary means. As the Jacksonville hospital is considered one of the best hospitals in the state and country, it is important to have financial managers that can handle the financial aspects of the hospital.

5. What is the mission, vision, and goal of this organization?

The mission of this organization is to manifest the love of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, by providing and strengthening the healthcare in communities. The vision and goal of the organization are to be the best in clinical excellence, the best patient care, and adequate growth so that they can provide the best that healthcare can give health, our mission, vision, and values (Baptist Health, 2020).

6. Comment on this organization’s strategic planning process, and it’s the relationship to financial management. Is there an appropriate alignment? Explain.

According to the (Baptist Health 2020) Strategic Planning, the organization is in the process of undergoing improvements. Their goals are to improve on the quality of clinical treatment, the services they provide to their patients while keeping in mind compassionate Christian values, be active for the community, and finally, creating value for many of the patients. The strategic planning, they have in front of the public is in six ways. First of them being accessibility, where they want to improve Telemedicine and virtual medicine, so they have a good reach to their patients. Second is population health, where they will take a defined population and work on managing their health through Medicare and Medicaid populations (Wells, 2017). The third and fourth being operational effectiveness and workforce, making reliable healthcare and improving the workforce for effective treatment. And the last being partnerships and strategic growth, having help from the community and growing substantially with different strategies. Due to healthcare having 18% gross domestic, the pressure to reduce costs falls in the finance department. The financial management is ready for these changes but also expects that healthcare financing through Medicaid block grants, Accountable Care Organizations, and members of the community will pool in so that the change in healthcare can be as effective as it can be (Wells, 2017).

7. What type of budget does this organization use? Provide detail on this type of budgeting.

Baptist Hospital uses the Medicaid block grants, contracts with other healthcare organizations, and the expenses they charge from the healthcare services they provide to the patients. The hospital attributed its revenue growth to Bethesda Health, which is based in Boynton Beach as well. The mixture of all these budgeting techniques has increased revenue for Baptist Health in the year 2018 while having lower revenue in the year prior (Ellison, 2018).

8. What is the most expensive aspect of healthcare delivery?

The most expensive aspect of healthcare delivery is the maintenance of equipment, as well as the quality of care and services provided to the patient.

9. How is healthcare finance related to the cost of care, quality, value, waste, performance improvement, regulatory compliance, provider relationships, and insurance reimbursements/payors?

The healthcare finance determines the cost of everything that the organization will provide for its patronage. The price of healthcare of these services determines factors of how the patient will be treated, quality of care, the status of the equipment, and how classified the doctors are (Ellison, 2018). The finance department is the foundation of every company worldwide.

10. What measures has the organization used to contain costs?

Baptist Health has cut 288 jobs so that the management of resources and assets can be used more effectively. The reason for this cut was due to increasing consolidation pressures in the healthcare industry (Ladwig, 2017).

References

Troy Wells, (2017). Baptist Health 2020 Strategic Plan Guides the Course for System’s Future.

Retrieved April 21, 2020, from https://www.baptist-health.com/baptist-health-2020-strategic-plan-guides-the-course-for-systems-future/

Ellison, Ayla. (2018). Baptist Health South Florida sees 66% jump in net income. Retrieved

April 22, 2020, from https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/baptist-health-south-florida-sees-66-jump-in-net-income.html

Baptist Health (2020). OUR MISSION, VISION AND VALUES. Retrieved April 22, 2020,

from https://www.baptisthealth.com/careers/why-choose-baptist-health/our-mission-vision-and-values

Health.UsNews.com. (2020). Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville. Overview of Baptist Medical

Center Jacksonville. Retrieved April 23, 2020, from https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/fl/baptist-medical-center-6390308

Ladwig, Boris. (2017). Baptist Health cuts 288 jobs, including 149 in Louisville. Retrieved April

23, 2020, from https://louisvillefuture.com/archived-news/baptist-health-cuts-288-jobs-including-149-in-louisville/