Weekly Discussions

Weekly Discussions

Week 2

Please provide 1 and a half pages for each question response. Along with 2 references for each.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has the legal authority to regulate the form and content of financial statements. However, the SEC relies on the following organizations for implementation:

Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Industry Committees of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Principles and Practices Board of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). Should the preparation and presentation of financial accounting data be regulated?

Week 3

There are various payment methods used to pay providers. Fee-for-service reimburses on the basis of each patient encounter. Capitation payment is not tied to utilization but rather to the number of covered lives. What is the major difference between the financial risks to providers of fee-for-service and capitations?

Week 4

Activity-based costing (ABC) uses an upstream approach to cost allocation by identifying the activities that are performed to provide a service and then aggregating the cost of those activities. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using ABC to estimate costs, and then aggregate those costs.

Week 5

The process of assigning appropriate values to cash flows that occur at different points in time is called time value analysis. Of all the financial analysis techniques discussed in this week assignments, none is more important than time value analysis. Explain why the time value analysis and the cash flow statements are so important to healthcare financial management.

Week 6

The capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is an equilibrium model that defines the relationship between risk and return on assets held as part of well-diversified portfolios. The security market line (SML) is the “working end” of the model that is actually used to estimate the required return based on the asset’s beta coefficient. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of CAPM..

Week 7

Some healthcare businesses, particularly not-for-profit providers, have the goal of producing social services along with commercial services. For such firms, the proper analysis of proposed projects must systematically consider the social value of a project along with its pure financial, or cash flow, value. When social value is considered, the total net present value (TNPV) of a project can be expressed as follows: TNPV = NPV + NPSV. Describe the net present social value (NPSV) Model of capital budgeting.

Week 8

Businesses hold marketable securities (cash equivalents and short-term investments) for two primary reasons: As an interest-earning substitute for cash. As a temporary repository for cash being accumulated to meet a specific near-term need. In reality, cash management and marketable securities management are accomplished simultaneously. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of holding marketable security both for long-term and shorten reasons?