Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Financial health of a company
1. Depending on your review of the financial statements, suggest a fundamental insight about the financial health of the company. Speculate on the likely reaction to the financial statements from various stakeholder groups (employee, investors, shareholders). Provide support for your rationale
Universal Health Services is a publicly traded company and know for operating acute care hospitals, surgical and behavioral health centers. The firm also operates in ambulatory surgery as well as radiation centers. The company is recognized as the largest hospital management in the United States having more than 240 acute care hospitals and employing more than 74,000 workers (UHS, 2016).
Based in Pennsylvania, the firm is known to register billions in earnings enabling it to be classified as a top performer. This has also allowed the company to create franchises in rapidly-growing markets. However, the efforts are owed to its management which works on the principle of integrity to effectively be competent and compassionate. As such, most of its revenues are gotten from its various departments with acute care hospitals bringing in 73% of income (UHS, 2016).
Nonetheless, it is believed that behavioral health services bring in more than hospitals due to the high occupancy rate. In other words, it could be said that the behavioral centers bring in the highest amount of revenue than hospitals. The fact that the health management is large in size, there are bound to be numerous accounting concepts.
Since the financial statement is helpful in monitoring the financial health of a company, integrity should be applied. Accurate financial information gives the position of the firm in the market. According to the recorded UHS’S financials, the company’s revenue have been increasing.
Nonetheless, the business should make correct entries on the financial statements especially when recognizing income and expenses. Therefore, it could be said that the financial health of the company is stable but may be complicated with the numerous acquisitions. However, the higher returns on investments have been attracting investors.
Current Industry Trends
There is no doubt that firms get into business in a bid to make money rather than meeting the full needs of the market. This is no different from the health care industry where the industry players are focusing on financial aspects instead of providing quality care to their patients (UHS, 2016). More so, what is taught in schools also involve economic aspects as part of its curriculum.
What people fail to apprehend is that quality care attracts more people and eventually increasing the amount of revenues. At the same time, having more patients and clients raises the spending of resources raising the overall costs (Kaplan & Witkowski, 2014). Besides, hospitals are turning to technology, and this also increases the overall costs and stakeholders are not left behind (Jena & Philipson, 2013).
In fact, they are behind every planning, developing, and implementation of hospital projects. Therefore, the trend that hospitals are now following is not new but something that is rapidly gaining acclamation in the industry. Additionally, the future health direction the industry players are taking is gaining momentum (Gengler, 2011). All in all, what is more, important is that lack of quality care in hospitals affects the firm’s financial performance.
Sadly developing sound business practices does not stick with the industry players. Gambling with people’s health in a bid to reduce hospital costs is undesirable and a recipe for disaster. It is, therefore, essential for hospitals and health care providers to practice good business ethics that entails focusing on providing quality care to patients.
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
3. As the CFO, suggest one (1) basic strategy that you might use in order to improve the financial performance of the organization. Recommend an approach to implementing the proposed plan. Provide support for your recommendation.
For the above reasons, it is my responsibility as the CFO to ensure that individual and organizational goals are aligned. In turn, this translates to increased revenues since both employees and the employers would be satisfied. Better still, there would be increased customer loyalty and brand image. It is crucial to note that stimulating individual motives will lead to greater motivation and will to work efficiently.
This, therefore, means that core values have to be instilled as a culture that appreciates everyone’s efforts is cultivated (Baker & Baker, 2013). This is so because formal business policies will integrate both individual and organizational goals towards one direction. Still, group objectives should be recognized as essential for success and continuity of business growth. In turn, the organization’s missions and vision will be met entirely as the strategies would be linked to the goals.
In essence, if personal objectives would be fulfilled, group goals would be easy to attain. For instance, if UHS decides to align its overall goal of increasing revenue with individual needs of providing quality care, there would be smooth operations. As such, the strategy is found to be useful in all types of organizations. While little is being done on performance, the critical focus is lost. In our case, the focus should be on creating a balance between providing good quality health care and make more revenues at the same time.
In as much, as it is a medical institution, it operates as a business and requires funding as other firms do. However, even though there is no harm in wanting more money, it should be made clear that patient health outcomes matter. In supporting this performance program, the health care provider should ensure they include customer and business profitability is achieved through proper alignment of goals and strategies. As a result, there will be reduced costs, increased efficiency, and increased income levels.
References
Baker, J. J., & Baker, R. W. (2013). Health care finance. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=yfuBAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Baker,+J.+J.,+%26+Baker,+R.+W.+(2013).+Health+care+finance.+Jones+%26+Bartlett+Publishers.&ots=Jeyce1VgVc&sig=ZHe-D_48p6mJ4JmRSbBGEDEAyNg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Gengler, A. (2011). The future of your health care. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com
Jena, A. B., & Philipson, T. J. (2013). Endogenous cost-effectiveness analysis and health care technology adoption. Journal of health economics, 32(1), 172-180. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167629612001555
Kaplan, R. S., & Witkowski, M. L. (2014). Better accounting transforms health care delivery. Accounting Horizons, 28(2), 365-383. Retrieved from http://www.aaajournals.org/doi/abs/10.2308/acch-50658
UHS, (2016). 2014 Annual Report- Universal Health Services. UHS. Retrieved from http://www.uhsinc.com/media/288196/2014-annual-report.pdf
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
