The Financial And Cost Accounting Implications Of Medical Tourism

It is estimated that the current annual U.S. investment in health care is $2 trillion, roughly 16 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).   Of great concern is the fact that health care costs are rising at two-and-one-half times the rate of inflation in the economy. As a result, the model of health care outsourcing to less developed countries has become increasingly more attractive to individuals who pay out of pocket expenses for health care or who do not want to wait long periods for health care. Medical tourism, introduced in several countries outside the U.S. over a decade ago, is a term coined to represent those underinsured individuals who are willing to pay to travel overseas to save significant amounts of money on the same procedures offered at much greater expense through the U.S. health care system.  Because quality of health care around the world varies, concern over substandard care with regard to surgery and other medical procedures is a factor to take into consideration when evaluating medical tourism.   This article analyzes the cost implications of medical outsourcing abroad and discusses the financial implications of medical tourism as it relates to the cost of direct care, follow up care, and complications

Educational And Financial Impact Of Technology On Workforce Development

In the current evolving economic environment, developing and implementing an effective workforce to improve the skills and capability of employees are seen as central to improving individual and organizational performance and competitiveness. The availability of online education in universities as well as the work place has significantly increased during the past decade. This paper summarizes and addresses the current research, trends and future prospects of e-learning as it relates to the awarding of higher educational degrees and private sector workforce development

Current Trends And Future Considerations Of Higher Education In Business

Graduate programs in business, while still highly regarded, are under increased scrutiny by both business academics and the corporate world.  There is growing evidence that graduate business programs are not responsive to the needs of the business community.  The complexity and global nature of business today requires that schools must provide their graduates with not only traditional managerial skills, but also skills relating to the interpersonal and conceptual.  These essential skills include the ability to team build, to effectively communicate ideas, and to embrace cultural diversity.  To remain relevant and viable, business schools must assess not only their teaching, but also the content of their research.  Their focus should be on establishing criteria of excellence that benefits not the business school or faculty, but rather those that hire their graduates.  The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the basic assumptions of graduate business education today, and provide recommendations for enhancing its relevance in today’s complex business environment.  Perspectives that influence these trends are analyzed and include the changing mission of graduate programs in business as well as the debate over specialization versus integration of graduate business courses

Using eLearning To Build Workforce Capacity Among Business Professionals

In the current evolving economic environment, developing and implementing effective processes to improve the skills and capability of employees are seen as central to improving individual, organizational and national performance and global competitiveness. Recognizing that universities and colleges are critical to their state’s growth and economic prosperity, many governors and state policymakers have been considering how best to get more students to both enter college and get college degrees. A growing number of policymakers have come to recognize that higher education, including community colleges, four-year colleges, and research universities, cannot help drive economic growth in their states unless students’ academic success is linked to the needs of the marketplace. For example, to address this need, the Louisiana GRAD Act (HB1171) was recently enacted to support the state's post-secondary education institutions in increasing their overall effectiveness. Institutions develop specific measurable performance objectives aimed at improving college completion and meeting the state's current and future workforce and economic development. One of the Act's student success indicators cites, “Increase the use of technology for distance learning to expand educational offerings.” At all levels of education, online learning is one of the fastest growing trends in educational uses of technology (www.ed.gov). It is now commonly agreed on that educational benchmarks and expectations can be achieved equally well, and in some cases better, than with traditional face-to-face courses (www.ed.gov). Many faculty choose to combine multiple forms of synchronous and asynchronous online interactions. A successful eLearning experience will use a combination of the technologies most appropriate for the practitioner, the learner group, the course content, and course assessment

Cost Accounting Implications For Corporate Wellness Programs

The health of a company’s employees is a considerable challenge for today’s corporate executives.  The reality of ever increasing healthcare costs has resulted in more companies now recognizing the value of health promotion through employee health and wellness programs.  The potential return on investment is ultimately less turnover, less absenteeism, greater satisfaction in employment, better recruitment, and sustained success of companies. As the workplace is increasingly recognized as a potentially effective site for wellness intervention and employee health promotion, the challenges in offering these types of programs are apparent.  The greatest challenge for employers is to maintain workplaces that provide health-promoting and sustaining policies, programs, and practices.  Employees should have ready access to effective programs and services that protect their health, safety, and well-being.  Wellness programs offered at the work site are one way for corporate America to meet this challenge

Evaluation Of College Faculty: What Do Accounting Students Really Think?

Student opinion surveys of teaching are widely implemented at the university level for many reasons.  Faculty members use the input from students to improve their teaching while administrators often use the information for merit, and tenure and promotion decisions. The extensive use of student ratings is in part the result of the increased interest in improving teaching and the growing demand for greater accountability on the part of colleges and universities.  At issue is the concern that students are asked to evaluate faculty on components of teaching deemed important by divisions of institutional research and not necessarily by faculty themselves.  Final approval of student opinion surveys may be prematurely granted without sufficient input from consumers.  The purpose of this paper is to explore issues surrounding the wide spread use of student opinion of teaching surveys for evaluative purposes and to describe the role of student ratings in judging teaching effectiveness. An extensive review of literature was used to construct a survey administered to 165 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate accounting courses.  Students were asked to rank effective teaching practices.  The results of this survey guide faculty and administrators to understand, from students’ perspective, effective teaching practices.  Conclusions are drawn concerning the appropriate use of the information obtained from student evaluations and the impact the student ratings have on the quality of instruction in colleges and universities

Healthcare Cost Containment: A Survey Of Healthcare Financial Managers

Federal and state governments, as well as third party payees, have created incentives for cost containment policies within healthcare settings.  The purpose of this study is to determine the extent healthcare financial managers (HCFMs) believe various healthcare reform measures and cost containment strategies are effective and to descriptively compare the perception of effectiveness by type of organization (for profit, not for profit, and outside CPA/consulting firm). Eighty-four HCFMs, from 36 states, agree that the majority of healthcare reform measures are moderately or very effective.  In general, accounting practices that HCFMs have direct decision making authority over were deemed effective (i.e. accounting systems that reduce administrative costs) regardless of type of agency employed.  Surprisingly, accounting systems that provide more accurate allocation of indirect-overhead costs were not considered effective by not-for profit organizations.  On the other hand, analyzing variances between expectations and actual cost/revenue, closely monitoring supply and equipment costs, and reducing administrative costs were rated effective by all three groups

Controlling Medical Costs: Perspectives From Financial And Nurse Executives

The cost of healthcare in the U.S. is an issue of continuing concern for those who manage the economics of healthcare. Increasingly, as the system continues to undergo responsive changes in structure and processes, healthcare financial managers (HCFM) and Nurse Executives (NE) have emerged as an important part of healthcare reform. The purpose of this study is to compare the extent HCFMs and NEs believe various healthcare reform measures and cost containment strategies are effective. Eighty-four HCFMs, and 99 NEs from 36 states, comprised the sample for this study. Both groups agree that the majority of healthcare reform measures are moderately or very effective.  In general, accounting practices that HCFMs and NEs have direct decision making authority over were deemed effective (i.e. accounting systems that reduce administrative costs). Three strategies not considered effective by both groups were restriction of coverage for various drug therapies, accounting systems that provide more accurate allocation of indirect/overhead cost; and increased physician accountability for cost containment. When comparing accounting systems, expense tracking, and cost shifting strategies, HCFMs were significantly more likely to rate cost shifting as effective than NEs. Acknowledging that HCFMs and NEs believe that accounting systems are  responsive to healthcare reforms validates and contributes to the ongoing efforts of HCFMs and NEs to continue to use their expertise to maximize revenues, and minimize costs in order to provide competitive, caring patient care

Accounting And Economic Implications Of Healthcare Information Technology

There is a growing consensus that interoperability of health care technology is greatly needed so that data can be effectively and accurately exchanged across provider groups and organizations to provide quality healthcare while reducing the cost of healthcare delivery. Benefits are expected for physician groups, organizations, and patients.  Perhaps most exciting is the opportunity for integrated patient and population level data leading to clinical decision support systems which assist with the management of patients by integrating medical knowledge with patient characteristics and generating computer based reminders, alerts, and guidelines.  While research supports a multitude of benefits, challenges exist that require long-term commitment before the reality of an integrated healthcare information technology will exist. This article explores the benefits, the barriers, and the long term impact of Healthcare Information Technology on future healthcare delivery systems

The Financial And Cost Accounting Implications Of The Increased Role Of Advanced Nurse Practitioners In U.S. Healthcare

On March 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act became law. The need for healthcare reform was prompted by an imperative to reduce the relentless increase in spending on medical care in the United States. One approach to examining and solving the problem of escalating costs is to focus on applying proven principles of evidence-based practice and cost-effectiveness practices to find the least-expensive way to ensure clinical services of acceptable quality without sacrificing patient satisfaction. Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) have positioned themselves to serve an integral role in national health care reform. A successful transformation of the nation's health system will require utilization of all clinicians, including highly qualified APRNs, to provide cost- effective, accessible, patient-centered care. There is extensive, consistent evidence that nurse practitioners (NPs) provide care of equal or better quality at lower cost than comparable services provided by other qualified health professionals. However, current policies in many states prevent NPs from practicing within their full, legally defined scopes of practice. The Office of Technology Assessment's conclusions noted in 1981 that APRNs can be substituted for physicians in a significant portion of medical services with at least similar outcomes. Since then, numerous studies have supported that the care provided is equal to those provided by physicians for services within the overlapping scopes of licensed practice. This paper combines economic analysis with review of literature on health care reform initiatives to explore how the goals of healthcare reform can be accomplished by advanced nurse practitioners to provide their wide range of services directly to patients in a variety of clinical settings.