Nursing & Business Management: Quality, Care & Budget Strategies.

For effective practice, nurses need to establish a proper connection between quality and caring patient service with effective and efficient budget making strategies. According to Dunham-Taylor & Pinczuk (2006), they determined that every decision made by the managers has an implication financially; likewise, every financial decision to be made has a management implication. Increasingly, there have been conflicts associated with business management in healthcare institutions and nursing practice. Therefore, nurse managers need to gain knowledge about effective and efficient budgeting strategies and among other financial reporting skills and variance analysis.

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Decision Making

There should be an adoption of proper decision-making mechanisms by the nurse managers to facilitate the process (Bateman, 2012). Accordingly, the mechanisms used by the nurse managers to ensure they realize the best possible financial decision include: a collection of relevant data and information, Planning the services, Planning the activities, Implementation of the plan, budget monitoring, and finally undertaking correctional measures where possible.

The process of collecting relevant information and among other data is considered the vital step. Usually, the process is spearheaded by the finance department under the supervision of the nurse managers, to achieve a functional budget. Some of the information and data to be collected in this step include the services offered, patient and payer mix, and acuity index. The nurse manager usually undertakes the data on services provided as they are well aware of the current services offered to the respective patients seeking medical attention (Laughon & Hunt, 2011). Moreover, the nurse manager suits well to undertake the task as they know the future services that would be in demand. Some of the data collected include the bed capacity, medical staff depth, and among others. The patient mix data collection is in regards to the patient care complexity of service. Accordingly, when the complexity of patient care is high, that means the reimbursement should also be increased. The payer mix calculation is done by the finance department, with the results giving a reflection of the patients demographic. That includes the patients' age, for instance, a patient aged 65 years and above, and have secured the care plan. That means their hospital stay is shortened, hence reimbursement for such patients is higher than the rest, particularly the Medicare patients. Acquit index determines an individual patient's acuity in a particular nursing unit. Usually, that is calculated and assigned levels one to five, with level five representing the complex case. Hence, there may be a need for more medical staff in the future, therefore, increased reimbursement.

The stage of planning of services ensure the expected services offered in the next fiscal year. Therefore, sufficient finances can be made available to facilitate future expenditure. The stage requires constant communication between the nurse managers and the finance department to establish a functional plan. Planning of activities entails the accommodation of a new method of operation in the institution. Therefore, the budget needs to be structured to suit the expected expenditure. The nursing manager becomes aware of the costs then communicates promptly to the finance department. Implementation of the budget plan follows after collective approval by both the board of directors and higher administration. Budget monitoring mechanism follows proper financial monitoring routinely. That is undertaken by the finance department and the nurse managers, who compare the budget with the actual expenses, to identify any variances. Corrective measures involve the modification of the current goals based on their performances

Strategic Planning

The advantage of a contemporary approach in healthcare strategic planning is that improved technology is adopted. The modern approach is focused on value-based reimbursement and fee-for-service revenue health care systems. That leads to the development of technology among the population, instead of the old methods of bringing the patients to the healthcare facility. Contemporary approaches thinking is that of a healthcare system rather than a small hospital, as it is the norm in traditional approaches.

However, the traditional healthcare strategic planning is beneficial as it ensured the staff members are actively involved in future developmental plans. Thereby, abandoning that strategy will take away the personal drive offered to the staff members, as the modern approaches do not appeal to the lowest levels. Consequently, a sound foundation which ensures the future is effectively planned for would not be realized.

Environmental Analyses

Environmental analysis has a role in healthcare strategic planning as it determines the present opportunities, as well as threats in the internal and external environment (Rundio, 2016). The process follows the SWOT analysis, whereby, the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of the healthcare institution are identified and evaluated. The healthcare organization can determine the economic trends that would strengthen or provide a threat to the existence of the organization; hence corrective measures can be applied. When any of the steps are not undertaken well, it will impact the organization since those factors are interrelated. For instance, the new opportunities determined cannot be implemented when the threats in the environment are not overcome.

Mission and Vision for Directional Strategy

The mission and vision statements within an organization are important in ensuring the strategic goals are achieved, in addition to the organization staying on the positive trend (Bateman, 2012). The combined efforts of all the employees and the general working units play a vital role in achieving organizational objectives. For instance, when the employees are made aware of the opportunities and threats of the organization, they can then accomplish their objectives through informed navigation hence accomplishing the set organizational goals. When the entire workforce seizes the opportunities presented to them, the organization holistically meets the set objectives, as they create an edge over its competitors.

Planning Services Strategy

Planning of services is a strategy which may entail the introduction of the large project within the organization. The finance department usually does not know about the service being introduced by the managers. The newly introduced service will require additional staffs and among other associated costs. The first step of introducing the change is by communicating with the finance department, such as biweekly meetings. For successful implementation, the current finance reports are evaluated and the nurse manager to provide the benefits associated with the proposed changes in the long-run (Rundio, 2016). For instance, explaining the expected increase in revenue, and the loss in market share when the new service is not implemented into the organization.

The complexity of Care and Budgeting

Financial planning in healthcare organizations is becoming more complex as the activities are changing from function-focused into an integrated one. The complexity of service delivery is influenced by various factors which include; disease type and demographics. Complex diseases such as cancer, their treatment would require specialized staff with the use of more sophisticated machines and technology. Consequently, with regards to demographics, cancer may be prone to older people as compared to young individuals in the population. Besides, a large population served by a healthcare organization will require increased medical staff and also facilities. Therefore, when the situation in the healthcare organization is complex, more reimbursement is needed to ensure the success, and organizational goals are achieved. The increased budget would cater for acquiring more staff and facilities (Rundio, 2016).

Business Plan

This business plan aims at securing prospective funders of a new MRI machine. The incorporation of the machine at our healthcare organization has a prospective market potential as there is no other in the immediate jurisdiction. The population served is approximately 300,000 people, hence a potential annual revenue of 100 million dollars. We are appealing for a 10-year loan amounting to 20 million dollars to secure sufficient machines.

Conclusion

The primary role of nurse managers is in decision making, for the effective running of the healthcare institution. The development of such effective decision-making strategies will ensure nurse managers understand the activities of communication, planning, negotiation, conflict management, and leadership. The best financial decisions are usually in collaboration with the finance department or even the entire nursing unit. Therefore, the environment in health care as known today has a different financial decision to be prepared for proper service delivery and the general improvement of patient care.

References

Bateman, N. (2012). The business of nurse management. New York: Springer.

Laughon, D., & Hunt, P. (2011). The Nurse Leader's Guide to Business Skills: Strategies for Optimizing Financial Performance. HCPro.

Pinczuk, J., & Dunham-Taylor, J. (2006). Financial management for nurse managers.

Rundio, A. (2016). Budget development for nurse managers. Retrieved from https://www.reflectionsonnursingleadership.org/features/more-features/budget-development-for-the-nurse-manager