Instructions

Research Paper Topic, Budget Information, and Resources

In Unit VIII of this course, you will complete a research paper where you create a balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows for your healthcare facility. You will also make capital budgeting and investment decisions, and present long-term financial analysis for the facility. In this analysis, you will evaluate the financial implications of current and future healthcare trends and discuss the future of healthcare financial management in the United States.

In this unit, your assignment is to submit a research paper topic that gives basic background information about your healthcare facility and presents current budget information. The first part of this assignment is to decide which facility that you wish to analyze. Do not use the same facility you used in the Unit V Assignment. Create your own facility name, background, and information about what type of healthcare facility it is. Give a brief description of your facility, including information about its history, its current financial situation, and whether it is for-profit or nonprofit.

Part two of the assignment for this unit is to outline the budget information for your facility for 2018. Include the revenues, costs, and profits (or losses). With this information, present a budget and actual results for the facility with the difference in dollar-terms and percentages based on the actual numbers. Explain the relationships of these. Based on this information, calculate and interpret the revenue, cost, and profit variances for the facility. You are creating this facility, so the budget information is up to you. For instance, if you want to concentrate on turning operations around in a struggling facility, that facility might face losses in its 2018 budget.

Part three of the assignment for this unit is to research the topics listed at the top of this assignment for the final research paper, list three of the five sources that you will use in your research paper, and give a brief description (e.g., two or three sentences) of each source.

Textbook:
Gapenski, L. C., & Reiter, K. L. (2016). Healthcare finance: An introduction to accounting and financial management (6th ed.). Health Administration Press.

Your completed research paper topic should be a minimum of two pages in length.