Happy Hospital Scenario

Happy Hospital Scenario
Mathew June
February 14th, 2011
ACC/HC561
Ruth Brown

Happy Hospital Scenario
Happy Hospital is a medium sized community hospital that is going into the New Year in a very strong position. With over $12.5 million in assets they are in a much better position than in years past to make some very important decisions to further improve the hospital (Finkler, 2006). Investing in new technologies and processes to become more efficient and provide better care is a complex goal for the hospital to achieve. There are a lot of decisions that will need to be made and they will require an understanding reporting, ethics, and accounting to be able to make the right decision.
Budgets and Performance Reports
Budget reporting is necessary to making good decisions on any potential upgrades at Happy Hospital. The organization is in a good position with the amount of cash on hand and other assets. However, if management does not set a clear budget for expenditures there could be disastrous consequences. Budgets can make sure the necessary expenditures are accounted for and a set amount to spend on upgrades can be discussed and agreed to. Happy Hospital is looking at converting over to electronic medical records to improve efficiency. Using budget reporting, management will have a limit to the amount that the hospital can spend on this technology. Otherwise its can be easy for management to be impressed by a system that costs way too much and impedes on the hospital’s ability to provide services to patients.
Performance reporting is also very important for management to use in the decision making process. According to AllBusiness.com, performance reporting displays the actual results of company activity (2011). Using the electronic medical records as an example, the hospital would want to check the performance reporting from the software company showing how the system helped other hospitals improve efficiency and cut costs. Performance reporting...