Difficulties of Planning a Budget, Research Paper Example

As a nurse manager in my organization planning a budget is no easy task. Difficulties encountered are immense. One such challenge encompasses the various sections, which must be included in designing an annual budget. Modern approaches require that small hospitals’ budgets reflect statistical; operating; capital and cash financial statements.Hospitals prepare their budgets based on expected income from patients through private insurance; Medicare/Medicaid. Often the trend has been thatafter retrieving datatodesign the budget for survival through the year ultimately the organization’s financial success depends largely on state and federal Healthcare legislations. As such, this is one of the greatest difficulties encountered when designing health care budgets because always the margin of doubt exits regarding its viability to adequately finance operations during the year (Marquis & Huston, 2011).

More importantly, as a nurse manager, often departments are asked to submit their budgets ahead of time. Based on their projections one is tendered for the organization’s fiscal year. One difficulty encountered encompasses delays in departments’ submissions of their portion of the budget as well as allocation inaccuracies regarding anticipated expenditures and income. Ultimately, the organization is faced with the potential of heavy penalties executed by Medicare for poor performance under thePatient Protection and Affordable Act(Marquis & Huston, 2011).

Strategies that can be used to enhance fiscal planning include embracingObamaCare techniques. These include hospitals functioning as a team whereby they learn from each other’s mistakes and reduce penalties imposed by Medicare. It means utilizing fiscal planning strategies developed by corporate America advocated in the ObamaCare program significantly restricting the fee-for cost executed by providers in health care settings (Marquis & Huston, 2011).

My own experiences with fiscal planning and cost effectiveness relates to itfunctioning in this economy as aneutral fiscal policy.Adequate fiscal planning anticipates a cost effectiveness that contains equilibrium. However, from my experience this is not the case. The truth is that government spending is never fully funded by tax revenue as being communicated. This is the reason for health care in America being in years of deficit and care quality declining due to escalating costs. Never, does the budget outcome offer a neutral effectas it relates tothe level of economic activityprojected(Arthur & Sheffrin, 2003).

It then leaves the nurse manager to over or underestimates the expected revenue for the year. Health care in America financially circulates within two main concepts insurance coverage and managed care provisions. While health insurance is expected to pay for health care and when nurse managers prepare their budgets this is the projected income there is however, no guarantee that the budget prepared in a health care setting is reflective of the expected revenue because health care national budget has been in a deficit for more than a decade(Larch & Nogueira, 2009).

Presently, an expansionary fiscal policy exists in Health caresettings because there isalways an over expenditure. In addressing this discrepancy fiscal planning should also adapt an over estimation policy realizing that health care while it is a businessfunctions as a nonprofit entity because it cannot balance expenditure with revenue(Larch & Nogueira, 2009).

Works cited

Arthur O’ Sullivan; Sheffrin, Steven.Economics: Principles in action. New Jersey. Pearson Prentice Hall 2003. Print

Larch, M; J. Nogueira Martins.Fiscal Policy Making in the European Union – An Assessment of Current Practice and Challenges. Routledge.2009. Print

Marquis, B. L. & Huston, C. J.Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing. Theory and application. (7th ed.) Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkin. 2011. Print.