Introduction
Elijah Heart Center(EHC) is a full service cardiac hospital with 140 beds available to patient care. EHC is a New York community based hospital that also provides the full spectrum of outpatient services as well as rehabilitation. While EHC has had no problem with the number of patients that comes in to use their services as well as the revenue that is produced they are realizing that the profitability has been steadily dropping. In this paper I will discuss short term alternative financial sources that EHC can use to increase its revenue.
Short Term financings
The first step in getting EHC finances back in order is to first assess where cuts can be made over a short and long period of time. The first cost cut that I feel will help increase revenue is to cut the cost of wages given to contract nurses. If EHC looks to employee within their own area this will help employee locals and help the community as well as cut cost on bring nurses in from other states on a contractible bases. This will also help to cut cost because not only was EHC paying the nurses nearly twice as much as their own nurses but they also had to pay the contracting company and the nursing manager. These were fees that were easily cut and did not have an effect on the patient’s because it does not interfere with the hospital normal staff that keeps the hospital going and knows how the hospital should conduct itself.
The second way to increase revenue is to hire nurse’s assistant’s while this will increase cost at first this will free up nurses to do more important jobs and allow the assistants to feed patients and transport them to different testing areas. Overall this will also help in making a major cut in cost for the hospital. This cut will come by freeing up the nurses time for more important duties and also provide another reason for the hospital to be able to get rid of the contracting nurses because now they regular nurses will have more free time available.
The third way to increase revenue which was not an option in the simulator but I feel this will improve revenue is to go back to the biggest source of income for EHC which is providing services for the Medicare patents. EHC needs to go to Medicare and renegotiate their contract with them or put a contract in place where they agree how much will be paid for services and when that payment shall be received and the repercussions such as late fees if the payments are not received on time. This is important because Medicare patients account for 39 percent of the EHC revenue.
Accounts Receivable and Inventory
While EHC was going through this tuff patch with low revenue there was a need to purchase some new equipment for certain functions within the hospital as well as to provide the patients with the best care possible. While EHC did make purchases they overall did not affect the budget that was set at the end of the first quarter. EHC was able to acquire the equipment by using loans that would not take away from the revenue that was coming in as well as not putting the hospital in a financial bind over the years while paying for the equipment.
Because EHC had such great help making wise financial decisions they at the end are able to expand on their campus to provide more beds and well as facilities for their patients care. This will not only increase the care of their current patients but also bring in new patients because of the upgrade in the new facilities that are being acquired by EHC.
Making these new additions to the EHC facilities will have a positive affect not only on EHC business policies but on the reputation of the hospital as well. These upgrades and new additions will show the community and the healthcare community that EHC is striving to provide the best care possible to their patients while providing the best facilities and equipment for the doctors to work on their patients with.
Cash Conversion Cycle
EHC was having a difficult with Medicare and receiving payment form them in a timely manner. While the simulator did not go over a way to adjust this problem I think the best was like stated above is to work out a new contract with Medicare as to what the cost of procedures will be that Medicare will pay EHC as well as when an appropriate time to expect payment should be and when is the proper time to expect a late fee to go along with payment. Because Medicare makes up 39 percent of the hospitals revenue this will allow the hospital cash cycle to tighten and allow the hospital to have more cash on hand when needed. This will also set president for the rest of the insurance companies that the hospital might expect.
Associated Risk
While the new plan that EHC has in store has some risk associated with it the risk is very minimum. But while there is some risk a risk management plan must be put in store to help the hospital maneuver through then shall any come about. The risk associated with releasing some of the hospitals staff is that the hospital might see an influx of patients at a particular time and be under staffed for the amount of patients that come in. This can happen at any facility but EHC has decided to high extra nurse on an on call bases. These nurses will have full time jobs at other hospitals but be on call for EHC during heavy volume times. This will keep the cost down while allowing the hospital to be fully staffed at all times.
Another risk associated with the new changes is the highering of the nurse’s assistants and the lack of training that is provided to nursing assistance. The hospital has implemented a training program with these nurses and the current nurse where they can receive hand on training by certified nurses to help them receive full nurse credits. This will allow a continuous cycle of ready nurses available as well as adding to the employees and the community. Also while a nurse is still and assistant they much be supervised if they are performing something other than transportation, feeding or bathing.
Performance Measures and Implementation of Policies
In conclusion while these changes to EHC policies and producers will in fact solve their financial problems the hospital must make sure that they are implemented. It is the job of the hospital director to make sure that everyone follows these new policies to keep the hospital going in a positive and growing direction. The director will also implement new performance evaluations on not only the hospital as a whole but the staff to make sure that everyone is working together for the betterment of the hospital. After all the work that EHC has put in to change they would not want their employees to be the reason that the hospital is back in financial issue.

Refenences
Simulation: Healthcare Financial Accounting Simulation