Healthcare Financial Statements Term Paper

Healthcare Financial Statements emphasizes on how accountants belonging to a healthcare organization make use of the accounts rule to evaluate their organization's financial statements. This paper also outlines the troubles a company could be into if its manager has no knowledge of interpreting the financial statements. This paper also highlights the steps taken by managers who have no background of finance.

Healthcare Financial Statements

All organizations whether they are linked to business, education or healthcare make excessive use of Accounts and Financial Statements to keep a check on their finances. If financial statements are not maintained then a check on the company's profit or loss or simple money expenditure cannot be analyzed. Hence, it is extremely important for healthcare organizations to acquire professional accounting services. Personnel who are in charge of the accounting department need to establish what and how the procedures will be carried out. An organization that is concerned with people's healthcare depends greatly upon the record of its patients, which in turn form the basis of an organization's financial statement.

Creating a valid patient record is critical, as this is the foundation for all communication, both clinical and financial. Healthcare organizations deliver statements to the proper address, giving the patient an opportunity to pay as they intended or communicate with the facility about the specific details of the financially responsible party. Integrated communication and verification allows healthcare organizations to reduce bad debt, reduce days in accounts receivables, decrease collection agency referrals and reduce write-offs (Eclipsys Technologies Corporation,

Advanced Financial).

Even though a check on an organization's financial statement is kept by the accounts department, it is however important that the manager too keep a checkmark on all of them. It is important for a manager to have sufficient knowledge of how financial statements are prepared and how they can be interpreted. Managers or supervisors who have absolutely no financial background what so ever should make an effort to develop their ability to interpret critical financial information. Accountants formulate organization's financial statements with the help of accounting rules. They illustrate the necessity for capital and the type of the profits and profitability. Even healthcare organizations need to measure their profit and loss and make the best use of the capital employed.

Healthcare organizations deal with a huge mass of people every day. The cash flow statements, the profit and loss account and the balance sheet unveil the potency and feebleness of such organizations. Budgeting can be easily accomplished with the help of financial statements. Budgeting allows healthcare organizations to plan in advance and utilize people's resources, productive aptitude and finance to the fullest.

Healthcare organizations prepare their financial statements by recognizing their revenue at the time of service and is recorded at amounts estimated to be recoverable, based upon recent experience, under reimbursement arrangements with third-party payers, including Medicare, private insurers, managed care organizations and hospitals, or directly from patients. Healthcare reimbursement is complex and may involve lengthy delays (Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements For the Year

Ended August 31, 2002).

The financial statement of a healthcare organization includes "accounts payable, accrued liabilities, liabilities subject to compromise, other long-term liabilities and long-term debt constitute financial instruments" (Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements For the Year Ended August 31, 2002).

In order to prepare the financial statements, executives and staff members working in a healthcare organization can make use of the apropos form and volume of accounting services required and restrict the users using the accountants reports without subjecting the time and disbursement of full financial statement audits.

Instead, accountants can be engaged to perform agreed-upon procedures on specified elements, accounts, or items of a financial statement. Under the new standards, healthcare organizations can request a variety of financial and non-financial sets of agreed-upon procedures from accountants. An accountant can attest to the validity of information, such as patient accounts receivable balances, that accounts for only one portion of the total accounts receivable. Notes to financial statements, such as long-term debt obligations, or other information derived from the financial statements, such as whether the organization meets working capital ratio requirements specified in loan

covenants, also can be completed with agreed-upon procedures (Alan Reinstien And

Robert Dery,…