Importance of Budgeting in Healthcare Organizations

Develop a 2-4 page review on the importance of the budgeting process to a health care organization, as well as demonstrate an understanding regarding the differences between an operational budget and a capital budget. Additionally, prepare an operational budget for the medical-surgical department at the St. Anthony Medical Center.
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Introduction
Note: This assessment uses Vila Health: Developing an Operating Budget media as the context for developing your budget. Please make sure you have reviewed this multimedia before you complete your assessment submission.
Financial management is something that touches us all. We are each responsible for our own personal and family budgets, and many of us are also responsible for budgets at work. Regardless of your experience with financial management, it is a critical skill to have, and it will be necessary to master this skill as you move forward in your health care administration career. Almost all health care administrators will be responsible for a budget at some point in their careers. Administrators must also know how to read basic financial statements and reports to assess the performance of their organization, other organizations, or their department.
Budgeting is an important consideration in strategic planning for any health care organization. The most basic definition of budget is a plan that identifies expected financial inputs and outputs. A budget should be closely aligned with a strategic plan, which is a strategy used by an organization to achieve its mission. Organizations may use different types of budgets, such as master budgets, statistics budgets, operating budgets, revenue budgets, expense budgets, and capital budgets (Reiter & Song, 2021). We will explore each at a high level.
For this assessment, you will be asked to consider the different types of budgets that are used in the health care field. By researching other organizations that use budgets, you will apply the course materials to a real-world situation. The assessment will further refine those skills as you navigate the St. Anthony Medical Center medical-surgical department budget (from the Vila Health multimedia). You will prepare a paper and a basic budget to demonstrate the knowledge that you acquired in this assessment.
Many learners enter the field with limited exposure to finances. Depending on your current knowledge and comfort level with the subject, it may be necessary to conduct additional research and spend extra time addressing some of the basics. In other words, the resources in this course will help to provide a foundation for you to complete the assessments, but it is possible that you will need to do your own research in the Capella University Library to fully address all scoring guide criteria.
References
Reiter, K. L., & Song, P. H. (2021). Gapenski’s healthcare finance: An introduction to accounting and financial management(7th ed.). Health Administration Press.
Nowicki, M. (2024). Introduction to the financial management of healthcare organizations (9th ed.). Health Administration Press.
Instructions
The assessment has two distinct parts:
Part 1: Medical-Surgical Department Operating Budget
Relevant scoring guide criteria:
• Provide this year’s correct revenue and expenses.
• Estimate the correct revenue, expenses, and net revenue/expenses for the next fiscal year.
For Part 1 of this assessment, use the information presented in the Vila Health: Developing an Operating Budget multimedia as context to create your operating budget. Using the data provided in the first three columns, develop an operating budget for the medical-surgical department at the St. Anthony Medical Center for the next fiscal year, as well as estimate the revenue and expenses for the remainder of the current fiscal year. (Assume that next year’s revenue will be unchanged from the current year’s revenue; however, the department will need to cut operating expenses by 5 percent for next fiscal year.)
You may download and use the Excel spreadsheet from the multimedia as your template for this part, or use the Excel spreadsheet Medical-Surgical Department Budget [XLSX].
Part 2: Types of Budgets and Their Importance
In the second part of the assessment, demonstrate your understanding of the importance of budgets within the context of financial and strategic planning for health care organizations. A comprehensive analysis of the budget consists of your interpretation of the numbers: What are the numbers telling you? Use the readings from your textbooks, Gapenski’s Healthcare Finance: An Introduction to Accounting and Financial Management and Introduction to the Financial Management of Healthcare Organizations, as well as the independent research you conducted to fully develop a 2–4 page (excluding cover and references pages) response to the relevant scoring guide criteria:
• Explain why budgets are an important part of the planning process.
o Explain means to make something (an idea, a situation, or a problem) clear to someone by describing it in more detail or revealing relevant facts or ideas.
• Explain the difference between operating, project, and capital budgets.
• Analyze the impact of the budget on the operations of the organization.
o Analyze means to examine methodically and in detail the constitution or structure of something (especially information), typically for purposes of explanation and interpretation.
• Adhere to the rules of grammar, usage, and mechanics.
o Grammar refers to the basic rules for how sentences are constructed and how words combine to make sentences (for example, word order, case, and tense).
o Usage refers to correct word choice and phrasing, particularly with regard to the meanings of words and phrases.
o Mechanics refers to correct use of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
• Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references.
o Be sure to include a separate References page.
You may use the Developing an Operating Budget [DOCX] template to complete this part of the assessment.
Additional Requirements
Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:
• Structure: Include a title page and reference page. You will submit two documents for your assessment:
o Excel spreadsheet (Part 1: Medical-Surgical Department Budget [XLSX]).
o Word document (Part 2: Developing an Operating Budget Assessment Template [DOC]).
• Length: Part 2 should be 2–4 double-spaced pages in length, excluding the title and reference pages.
• References: Cite at least four current scholarly or professional resources.
o Your textbook can be one of the four resources.
• APA formatting: You may wish to refer to the following APA resources to help with your structure, formatting, and style:
o Evidence and APA.
o APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX].
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point, for narrative portions only.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:
• Competency 1: Explain the importance of reporting in health care.
o Explain why budgets are an important part of the planning process.
o Explain the difference between operating, project, and capital budgets.
o Analyze the impact of the budget on the operations of the organization.
• Competency 2: Develop a departmental budget.
o Provide this year’s correct revenue and expenses.
o Estimate the correct revenue, expenses, and net revenue/expenses for the next fiscal year.
• Competency 3: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and respectful of the diversity, dignity, and integrity of others and consistent with the expectations for health care professionals.
o Adhere to the rules of grammar, usage, and mechanics.
o Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references.

RESOURCES
Use the resources linked below to help complete this assessment.
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Financial Management
Read the following:
• Reiter, K. L., & Song, P. H. (2021). Gapenski’s healthcare finance: An introduction to accounting and financial management (7th ed.) Health Administration Press:
o Chapter 1, “Healthcare Finance Basics,” pages 3–33.
• Nowicki, M. (2024). Introduction to the financial management of healthcare organizations (9th ed.). Health Administration Press:
o Chapter 14, “Budgeting,” pages 331–351.
Budgeting
Read the following:
• Reiter, K. L., & Song, P. H. (2021). Gapenski’s healthcare finance: An introduction to accounting and financial management (7th ed.). Health Administration Press:
o Chapter 1, “Healthcare Finance Basics,” pages 3–33.
Library and Writing Center
BHA Library Guide
• Health Care Administration Undergraduate Program Library Guide.
o This library guide provides many useful links to resources relevant to research and for locating sources related to health care topics.