Essentials of Health Care Organization Finance: A Primer for Board Members / Edition 1

by Dennis D. Pointer, Dennis M. Stillman

Overview

"Finally! The book that all health care board members needed but were afraid to ask for! Those dark days of staring at incomprehensible numbers during board meetings, of nervous nodding when their financially-literate brethren make comments or ask questions, of voting on things that they do not understand are gone! This book is long overdue and should be read by every trustee who is not a finance professional."
—James E. Orlikoff, president, Orlikoff & Associates, Inc. and executive director, American Governance & Leadership Group

Accounting for $1.4 trillion in expenditures (13.7 percent of gross domestic product), health care is one of the nation's largest and fastest growing industries. This concise, expertly written primer on health care organization finance is a nuts and bolts guide to what has become every hospital's most sensitive topic. Health care organization board members must possess basic financial competence to govern effectively. This book will help them acquire, easily and painlessly, the basic financial literacy essential for discharging their roles and fulfilling their fiduciary duties.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780787974039
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	09/22/2004
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	453,392
Product dimensions:	6.28(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.78(d)

About the Author

Dennis D. Pointer is Austin Ross Professor at the University of Washington, School of Public Health and Community Medicine. He is one of the country’s most highly regarded governance consultants. Two of his previous books, Really Governing and Board Work have won the James Hamilton Book of the Year Award from the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Dennis M. Stillman is associate director, Program in Health Services at the University of Washington where he teaches graduate-level courses in accounting and finance. For twelve years, he was chief financial officer at the University of Washington Medical Center.

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Table of Contents

List of Exhibits.

Foreword.

Preface.

About the Authors.

1. Governing.

Obligations.

Responsibilities.

Roles.

Governance Work.

Governance “Enablers”.

In the Boardroom.

2. Financial Responsibilities.

Objectives.

Plans.

Monitoring and Assessing.

Controls and the Audit.

Organization.

In the Boardroom.

3. Health Care Industry Financial Structure and Dynamics.

The Big Picture.

Health Insurance.

Voluntary Health Insurance.

Social Insurance (Medicare).

Welfare Insurance (Medicaid).

Health Maintenance Organizations.

4. Accounting Basics.

Accounting Principles.

Accounting Entity.

Accounting Period.

Monetary Unit.

Objectivity.

Accrual Accounting.

Materiality.

Full Disclosure and Transparency.

Conservatism, Consistency, and Comparability.

Accounting Value.

Accounting Equation.

Revenues.

Expenses.

Summary.

5. Reading Financial Statements.

Revenue/Expense Summary.

Balance Sheet.

Statement of Cash Flows.

In the Boardroom.

6. Analyzing Financial Statements and Overseeing Financial Performance.

Horizontal and Vertical Analyses.

Ratio Analysis.

Financial Oversight.

In the Boardroom.

7. Looking Forward: Vision, Strategies, Financial Plans, and Budgets.

The Vision and Strategic Planning.

Financial Planning.

Budgeting.

In the Boardroom.

8. Source of Funds: Financing.

Capital Structure.

Creditworthiness.

Long-Term Debt Financing.

In the Boardroom.

9. Use of Funds: Capital Investment.

Approaches.

Types of Capital Investment.

Financial Analysis of Capital Projects.

In the Boardroom.

10. Financial Integrity and Credibility.

Audit Committee.

The Audit.

Internal Controls.

Emerging Expectations and Standards.

In the Boardroom.

11. The Finale.

Admonitions.

Checklist.

Resources.

Appendix A: E. Polley Francis Hospital, Traditionally Configured Financial Statements.

Appendix B: Executive Summary of Sarbanes-Oxley Act Provisions and NYSE Governance Rules.

Appendix C: E. Polley Francis Hospital, Illustrative Code-of-Conduct Provisions.

Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Finally! The book that all health care board members needed but were afraid to ask for!  Those dark days of staring at incomprehensible numbers during board meetings, of nervous nodding when their financially-literate brethren make comments or ask questions, of voting on things that they do not understand are gone! This book is long overdue and should be read by every trustee who is not a finance professional.”
—James E. Orlikoff, president, Orlikoff & Associates, Inc. and executive director, American Governance & Leadership Group

“Improving director financial literacy is key to increasing the quality and effectiveness of health care organization governance.  Pointer and Stillman have written a ‘one-of-a-kind’ book for board members—long-tenured or new—needing a better grounding in the basics of accounting and finance.”
—Monte Dube, chairman, Health Law Department, McDermott, Will & Emery Attorneys-at-Law, Chicago, Illinois

“This book is a must read for board members who lack grounding in the basics of accounting and finance or those needing a refresher. It lifts the financial fog that many directors experience in their boardrooms.”
—R. Timothy Stack, president and CEO, Gregory Hurst, executive vice president and CFO, and Cahrles W. Wickliffee, board chair, Piedmont Medical Center, Atlanta, Georgia