Thursday, March 19, 2020

Health Services Resource Management

Health Services Resource Management The Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital, being a private establishment and also a non-profit organisation utilizes its funds in the day to day running of the organisation. Of these funds, the doctors usually pay a certain amount for the use of the hospital’s consulting rooms and there are also funds from the little percentage of the total cost of treatment that is usually charged on patients.Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Health Services Resource Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The hospital also has a variety of members who contribute to a health fund. The hospital charges service providers such as those offering radiology and dialysis services, the car park operators and the coffee shops for operating in the hospital. The most important source of revenue for the hospital is the health funds, which is mainly made of payments from the vast majority of the patients. This is done through per day payments or case based payments depending on the services rendered to a particular patient. The health fund agreements are usually negotiated from time to time and this is meant to increase the revenue that the hospital receives from the fund. The main hospital expenses includes: salaries paid to the staff; payments for support services such as cleaning; and the procurement of patient’s food, equipment and other utilities. The main expense of the organisation is staffing which consumes about 70 percent of the revenue allocation, which also includes agency staff. The hospital is not meant to make any profits from its operations. The aim of the hospital is to provide quality health care services to its patients who are mainly drawn from the nearby community. It also provides research and training facilities to health and medical students as well as researchers. Since it is not a profit making organisation any funds collected are reintegrated into the hospital which then sub sidises its services and also offers some services free especially to the poor in society. The major health services provided by the Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital are: pathology and radiology; orthopaedics; gynaecology and obstetrics; renal dialysis; cardiac surgery, vascular and angiography services; lung and respiratory medicine; neurosurgery; emergency medical services; intensive care units and neonatal intensive care unit and finally, outpatient clinics.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More I am aware of the costs of the services provided by the hospital and I believe it is imperative that the staff be aware of the costs of the services they provide so as to be more informative to the patient. Since the payments made by the patient to the hospital are through their own funds or from the health insurance claims, it helps them plan their treatment in adva nce and manage their expenses. The Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital has a documentation system policy though this is done for official purposes only. The only information that the hospital management is keen on implementing is the hospitals cash inflows since this impact directly on their credibility as managers. However, it is imperative that the staff should document the information collected on procedures performed, patient diagnosis and stay patterns and implement the deductions given. This is meant to ensure that they provide their patients with quality services since they can have follow up records of their health status. There is, however, a general reluctance especially by the clinical staff to adopt proper documentation which can be attributed to how they were originally trained, where there is more concern on their diagnosis rather than medical histories of patients which could be of particular importance. The sale of the Mersey hospital to the commonwealth by the Tas manian government was so low since the exchange of ownership was not meant to be a gift, but rather a sale and to accommodate this technicality, the purchase price of $1 was set. In selling the hospital, the government wanted to allow the adoption of the commonwealth system of healthcare management first with the hospital as a pilot program before incorporating it to the other hospitals in Tasmania (Wynne, 2005).Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Health Services Resource Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Though others may argue that the government lost in healthcare funding, it is still receiving its entitlements as well as increased funding from the commonwealth for all its other health care operations, which indicates that the deal was of great advantage to the Tasmanian government and the people of Tasmania in general. At Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital, the main fixed overheads for the hospita l are: employee salaries and benefits; building maintenance; interest expenses; capital expenditures property tax; and insurance. The main variable overheads in the hospital include: overtime wages; diagnostic services; patient care supplies; agency expenses; delivery costs; medications/drug therapy; utilities; therapy supplies; and food as well as housekeeping services. If 10% of the operating costs at Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital were to be saved, this would mainly be drawn from the agency staff and the payment of overtime staff, which is usually expensive. However, this would not influence the hospital negatively if it is coupled with the hiring of permanent staff that will be integrated into the staff schedules to achieve maximum output per employee. This should also incorporate provisions for emergency services, which, if included, should be limited to particular times so as not to have staff on standby idling. At Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital, the budgeting re sponsibility is given to the accounts department where the department establishes several cost centres and cost drivers. However, basing my analysis on what has been learnt in this course, there are some deficiencies that are notable in the way budgeting is done at Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital. Currently, it is hard to establish the real cost of a specific service as the hospital does not use the activity based costing method. Instead, things are valued in a wholesome manner where one cannot know which services are overpriced and which services are underpriced. Thus, it becomes hard for effective valuation of services in this hospital.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital do buy expensive equipments. This calls for effective capital budgeting approaches. To ensure that the hospital makes sound investment decisions, the hospital have established a competent cost and investment control department that utilizes various tools of capital budgeting. One of the main tools used by the hospital as part of its capital budgeting is the net present value as well as the analysis of the economic life of any machinery or other investments that the hospital decides to venture into. This enables the hospital to be well equipped with what is relevant as opposed to irrelevant material. The concept of capital budgeting in hospitals seems to have taken root as it was evidenced in the class discussion that most organizations are taking this issue with the gravity it deserves. There is a general tendency for hospital to move from the traditional funding where the issue of cost associated with a specific service was not important. Curre ntly, the case mix funding method being adopted lays a lot of emphasis on the number and the type of patients that a hospital serves. Therefore, the case mix method that emphasizes the product costing is important as it helps in the pricing of services to ensure that no service is offered at a loss to the hospital. The method is also important as it helps to show the adequate profit margins to ensure that hospitals do not make unethical profits at the expense of the customers. This is useful in the management and in the soliciting of funds, which is an important aspect in modern private hospitals as the rising cost of healthcare provision has ensured that the profitability of such hospitals reduce tremendously. It is worth noting that this course has been extremely helpful. There are many aspects that I have learned from the course. Of the most importance is the need to adopt a case mix or product costing model in the managerial activities of the hospital as this model ensures that every service offered by the company is done with cost consciousness. Although I work in a non-profit making hospital, the concept of product costing is important as it ensures that all the aspects of costs associated with a specific service are covered. The course will prove valuable in the quest to make Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital a place where customers pay a discount for the services provided, while all other aspects such as depreciation of equipment as well as lapsing of economic life of various hospital assets are covered by other means of funding. This means that the course will ensure that I possess the required skills to formulate service based payment policies that ensures that Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital funding is sustainable not only in the short run, but also in the short run to ensure that the customers receive quality services. Reference Wynne, Michael. 2005. Health scope: The Mersey Hospital Story.  https://www.bmartin.cc/dissent/documents/heal th/healthscope_mercy.html (Retrieved)

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Question Type - PrepScholar 2016 Students Encyclopedia

Question Type - PrepScholar 2016 Students' Encyclopedia SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The SAT is a predominantly multiple choice test, with the only exceptions being a written essay and ten student-produced math questions. In total, the SAT asks 67 Critical Reading questions, 54 Mathematics questions, and 49 Writing questions. Altogether, these add up to a total of 170 questions (plus theessay). The questions typically increase in difficulty level throughout their sections, withthe exception of passage-based Critical Reading questions, which chronologically follow their accompanying passage(s). Note: this article is a series in the PrepScholar2016 Students' Encyclopedia, a free students' and parents' SAT / ACT guide that provides encyclopedic knowledge. Read all the articles here! Of these 170 questions, 160 are multiple choice and have five lettered answer choices, A, B, C, D, and E. The remaining 10 are student-produced Mathematics questions, alsoreferred to as "grid-ins." To answer these grid-in questions, students write their solutions on a special section of the answer sheet. The grids for each response allow for up to four digits. Students can also write in a decimal point or fraction bar. Despite variations in difficulty level, each multiple choice question is weighted equally towards a student's score. A student'sraw score, based on the number of his/her correct, incorrent, and skipped answers, is converted to a scaled score between 200 and 800 for each section through a process called equating. This process takes into accountthe scores achieved by all test-takers on a given date. For the essay, which is graded by two readers, students receive a subscore between 2 and 12. The essay prompt typically includes a quote or short excerpt, oftenrelated to a philosophical or social issue, followed by a question. This question asks the student to develop a point of view and support it with examples from his/her reading, studies, experience, or observation. There is a0.25 point deduction for wrong answers on multiple choice, so students benefit from taking a strategic approach to which questions they answer and which ones they skip. Many SAT tutors suggest that students guess if they can confidently eliminate at least one choice among the five possible answers. Students can also be strategic about how much time they spend on each question, taking into consideration the difficulty level of each and how they can gain the most points. Students receive their scores about three weeks after taking the SAT. College Board score reports present each student's correct and incorrect answers by section and question type. Students may also pay an additional $18 for College Board's Question and Answer service, which gives a detailed report of the student's answers to each question. The Question and Answer service is only available for tests taken in October, January, and May. Redesign Alert Starting in March 2016, the redesigned SAT will feature multiple choice questions with four answer choices (A, B, C, and D) instead of the current five. The new SAT will have rights-only scoring, meaning there will be no more penalties for wrong answers. Critical Reading and Writing will be scored together out of 800, and the maximum composite score will be 1600. Read more from theSAT Encyclopedia! Further Reading How to Get and Interpret Your SAT Results Should You Get SAT Question and Answer Service for Score Verification? Should You Guess on the SAT? 6 Guessing Strategies

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Describe the most important events during the period, 19001940 Essay

Describe the most important events during the period, 19001940. Explain why the events you have chosen are the most important - Essay Example Significantly, Women's Suffrage in the United States was a gradual achievement through the 19th Century and early 20th Century which culminated in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution which maintained that the right of citizens of the nation to vote shall not be denied or abridged in view of sex. The Great Depression, the severe worldwide economic depression in the decade prior to the World War II, originated in the US, caused by the stock market crash known as Black Tuesday, and it is one of the most damaging and deepest depressions in the history of modern man. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, also called the Wages and Hours Bill, is another crucial event during the period and this established a national minimum wage and time and a half for overtime in certain jobs. "The main objective of the act was to eliminate 'labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standards of living necessary for health, efficiency and well-bein g of workers' The Fair Labor Standards Act also prohibited child labor in all industries engaged in producing goods in inter-state commerce. The act set the minimum age at 14 for employment outside of school hours in non-manufacturing jobs, at 16 for employment during school hours, and 18 for hazardous occupations." (Fair Labor Standards Act). Therefore, Women's Suffrage, the Great Depression, and the Fair Labor Standards Act are three of the most crucial events in the US history during the period between 1900 and 1940 and the effect of these events is evident even the contemporary years. One of the most essential events in the US history during the period between 1900 and 1940 is of course Women's Suffrage which was implemented in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution and accordingly the right of citizens of the nation to vote will not be denied or abridged in view of sex. "The Nineteenth Amendment further points to the link between the Progressive era and direct democracy." (Vile, 2006, p 207). Women's Suffrage in the US has given rise to many important developments in the US history and it contributed to the modern women's movement which aims at the liberation of women in every aspect of life. "After gaining the right to vote in1920, women engaged in little independent political activity until 1960s Feminism gained additional impetus from young women who entered politics to support the civil rights movement or to oppose the Vietnam War." (Bardes, Shelley, and Schmidt, 2008, p 161). Therefore, Women's Suffrage in the United States was a crucial event during the period 1900-1940 as it had various effects on the socio-political development of the nation. The Great Depression, which originated in the US, has been one of the most important events in the decade prior to the World War II and it was mostly damaging to the US economy, though it had devastating effects in almost every country of the world. It affected almost every aspect of the growth of the

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Private Equity in Developing Countries Case Study

Private Equity in Developing Countries - Case Study Example Exit might be accomplished by means of preliminary public offering (IPO) of the investee company’s stocks on a stock market, or by offering the investment to a trade purchaser or a different fund. The past many years have observed a growth in private equity action in the developing world. This continues to be fuelled mainly by institutional traders located in America. The causes of this progress are many. Among them has been the latest quick development of numerous developing nations and the recreation of curtails on international savings in lots of these nations. Possibly just as crucial has been the current insight by numerous institutional traders that the profits from private equity assets in the U.S. will probably decline in forthcoming years. (Claessens 78) While detailed data is difficult to find, a handful of instances can help depict these habits. In 1994 alone, private equity revenue located in Hong Kong and China brought up a full amount of $3.1 billion in funds. Two-thirds of the capital originated from outside Asia, with the solitary biggest supply being U.S. establishments. This total was greater than the total produced by specialist private equity establishments there since the initial fund was brought up in Hong Kong in 1981. In 1994 and 1995, Latin American revenue produced $1 .4 billion. This symbolized many times the quantity that had been brought up in the past by revenue in the area. India, Eastern Europe, South Africa, and Israel are simply some of the other places where a variety of private equity funds have long been or currently are now being produced. Furthermore, funds founded in the U.S. are more and more spending instantly in deals in the developing world, frequently in combination with these funds. Traders started to deem growing markets when planning some new investment territories in the past due 1990s. PE is usually related to high profits on investment in comparison to other forms of

Saturday, January 25, 2020

The Great Gatsby :: essays research papers

How far a person will go to accomplish a dream has no limits. If it includes self-reinvention, illegal acts, and self-indulgence the dream may not be as a result significant. But that is the case, in The Great Gatsby, by F Scott Fitzgerald, as the narrator Nick tells the accomplishments and wasted acts of the man known as Gatsby. Nick chooses to tell us this story to illustrate the consequences of Gatsby a man who he in the end has a positive opinion of and respects for his courage at attempting to fulfill a futile dream.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nick, the narrator, tells Gatsby’s story to paint a picture of an American Dream and how it becomes so crucial to accomplish a certain part of the dream that one becomes careless; which leads into other outside ambitions that alter the dream and which is therefore never accomplished. Nick summarizes this by saying â€Å"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past† (189). This quote is most significant because it sums up the book and how it can be applied to Gatsby’s life and the life of numerous others. It says â€Å"we† are like boats beating against the current meaning that people struggle to prosper for a dream but never truly achieve happiness. Although people to some extent do prosper they desire more and more that ultimately forget, dim or glorify the purpose of the dream and that leads t them into never attaining happiness. Gatsby’s life is an example of all of this because he reached hig h for Daisy’s love but in the end did not receive it because he was rather immoral in his journey in doing so. The end of Gatsby’s story is full of sad events and the reader must read between the lines. The reader must come to understand that Nick tells us Gatsby’s story as an example of what not to do, so that somehow readers can learn from the mistakes others commit and their own so that humanity can live more of a complete life. From the beginning Nick tells us how he controversially feels about Gatsby. Nick says â€Å"Gatsby who represented everything for which I have and unaffected scorn† (6) later goes on and says â€Å"Gatsby turned out all right at the end† (6). It is difficult for the reader to come to a conclusion as to what Nick’s opinion of Gatsby is.

Friday, January 17, 2020

How American and British towns and cities are preparing for peak oil

Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. This is expected to happen at the midpoint of depletion, that is, when only half the oil that will ever be produced has been consumed, and the other half is still underground. When oil production starts to decline, the economic impacts will be dramatic. Economic growth is largely dependent upon a growing oil supply. The International Energy Agency has forecast oil demand to expand at a rate of 1.3% annually over the period 2004-2030. This is likely to lead to large spikes in the oil price along with the price of gas and electricity which are closely linked on financial markets. British local authorities are now starting to consider the potential impact of peak oil on their services and communities. The preparations they have made are as follows: Woking Borough Council in Surrey has achieved major cuts in the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of its buildings largely by converting to combined heat and power (CHP), that is, small, local gas fired power stations, which provide both electricity and heats to buildings nearby. CHP is highly efficient because it exploits the large amounts of heat that are normally wasted in electricity generation to provide space heating and hot water. Woking says this approach has cut gas consumption by as much as 30% and emissions by even more which is a great achievement. But although Woking has cut its gas consumptions, its dependency upon gas is now even higher than before because a far greater proportion of its total energy comes from this single source. Woking is now proud that it now generates 82% of its own electricity, and distributes it through a private wire network. The preparations the US cities have made are as follows: In the Arlington County, Virginia, the board has published an environmental initiative called fresh AIRE (Arlington Initiative To Reduce Emissions) This document outlines the aims put in place in the right direction towards preparing for peak oil: – Increase purchase of wind-generated electricity from 3% of the total electricity purchased by the county to 5% – Install solar energy technology (eg: solar water heating) in one or two county facilities to demonstrate its efficiency and effectiveness. – Prepare a strategic energy plan and a climate action plan for County operations and the community. – Plant at least 1,200 trees in 2007. The measures put in place are as follows: – Many transportation options, including transit, and the development of a Master Transportation Plan. – An energy-efficient County fleet, including hybrid-electric vehicles, vehicles running on bio-diesel fuel, and ART buses powered by natural gas. – An aggressive tree planting program, which includes the purchase of wind-generated electricity. – A renewable energy program, which includes the purchase of wind-generated electricity. The document also recommends three things that individuals can do for themselves, which again would also be useful in beginning to mitigate peak oil – Drive a fuel-efficient car, walk, bike, or take transit. If 10 people trade in cars that get 24 miles per gallon for more efficient cars that get 40 miles per gallon, this action alone would reduce CO2 emissions by 40000 lbs per year which is equivalent of taking four of those cars off the road. – Get an energy audit, and implement the recommendations. This year, the county will support 20 demonstration home energy audits. I recently purchased an energy audit for my home and have learned many things I can quickly do to save on energy costs. – Replace one frequently-used light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb. If every household took this simple step, Arlingtonians would achieve the emissions equivalent of removing 1,000 cars from our roadways and save a million dollars a year. It was suggested by experts that the County should distribute at least 2,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs at public events, to reduce CO2 by 100 tons.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Your Tequila May Contain Methanol

Happy Cinco de Mayo! If your holiday celebration includes tequila, you may be interested to know the American Chemical Society (ACS) has found that some tequila contains methanol, 2-methyl-1-butanol, and 2-phenylethanol. What are these chemicals? In case youre wondering, no, these are not good and desirable chemicals to drink. The alcohol in alcoholic beverages that you drink is ethyl alcohol or ethanol (grain alcohol). Methanol (wood alcohol) and other alcohols are the types that can make you go blind and otherwise cause permanent neurological damage, not to mention give you a nasty hangover. The ACS purposely timed the release of the results to coincide with Cinco de Mayo, to raise awareness of the quality control issue. Tequila made from 100% blue agave tended to have higher levels of undesirable chemicals than other types of tequila (pure agave tequila is usually considered superior). What This Means Does this mean tequila somehow bad? No, actually tequila is one of the best-regulated alcoholic beverages in the world. The results not only point out a potential health hazard for this drink but also indicate other beverages are probably adulterated with contaminants. Its the nature of distillation. The process relies on boiling point differences between liquids, which means good control of temperature is key. Also, the first and last portion of alcohol that is distilled (the heads and the tails) contain other compounds besides ethanol. Not all of these molecules are bad, so a distiller may choose to retain a certain amount. Then, there is a risk of picking up contaminants during the aging process. Its tricky, which is why top-shelf tequila is likely way better than home-grown moonshine, as far as your health goes. Yet, its possible to distill alcohol without unwanted compounds. Why does the problem persist? Its partly a matter of economics, where a distillery determines what level of contamination is acceptable. Increasing purity decreases yield which decreases profit. Its partly a compromise between making a product with premium flavor, color, and scent while keeping toxins to a minimum.