healthcare Financial Problems and Remedial Action Plans (Coursework) (Coursework Sample)

Finance and Reimbursement
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Institutional Affiliation
Finance is the gearing factor in every organization. Firms with better financial planning and cash flow achieve their goals in time and with ease. Finance is one of the most crucial factors in every organization that wants to compete well with other firms in the industry and maintain an advantage over the competition. A firm needs to implement and follow better financial plans and cash flow in their operations. Better cash management and appropriation is the key to better financial management. Proper books of record that show the timely outflow and inflow of cash both from suppliers and customers are to be kept as they also reflect the actual financial ability of a firm. Incompetence in financial maintenance and control affect the operations of a firm in a number of ways. The effects, if not addressed in time, may cause the business to fail. Basing the discussion on the Tenet healthcare corporation, we will be looking into the weaknesses in the financial management and how they affect the finance and reimbursement activities of the firm.
Conflicts in an organization can cause a major problem in financial management. The finance department in the Tenet healthcare organization has on some occasions inner wrangles over finance misappropriation. Financial conflicts in an organization emerge from the conflict of interests. This happens if the executives or the management disagree on how to spend the available resources. Everyone wants his/her decision to be followed (Gapenski, 2009). For instance, in the Tenet healthcare organization conflicts arise when officials have different opinions on how to invest; this creates a lot of disagreement. Conflicts of interests usually arise due to individual as well as institutional differences. Individual conflicts arise as the result of misjudgments and/or overconfidence when it comes to making decisions. This has led to poor allocation and misuse of funds, which should be used for solving more important issues (Financial management, 2011). Individuals in this organization strive for promotion and recognition in the institution and this has led to huge competition among the executives, who tend to make biased judgments when it comes to financial decisions. Diverse opinions and interests do not work towards achieving a common goal set by the organization. In the Tenet, this has lead to lack of important professionals required for providing quality healthcare in the institution. There are limited funds allocated for the employment of qualified health practitioners, as well as the improvement of the existent and purchase of new advanced equipment.
Financial conflicts of interests are tangible and measurable. These conflicts seem easier to manage than some intangible conflicts, but they are not. In the Tenet healthcare institution, financial allocation in research and development was not done appropriately due to wrangles of inner management with sponsors (Gapenski, 2003). This has negatively affected research and development department in the attempt to achieve their goals and objectives. For this department to be successful, funds should be sufficient and used appropriately.
Proper bookkeeping is very important and contributes much to the control of finance flow in an organization. Internal control of the record books needs to be executed by professionals who have a vast knowledge and experience in the field. Stakeholders, just like the customers, debtors or creditors, are much interested in the safety of their finance (Financial management, 2009). Improper keeping of record books is a weakness and affects the storage of information regarding certain stakeholders, like the debtors and creditors, and in particular accessing the correct information regarding their position in the organization. In Healthcare Corporation like the Tenet, which have this weakness, it is important to employ an effective internal control system that will enhance and make efficient the keeping of records.`
Lack of proper books of record largely affects the reimbursement section in an organization. The creditors who have provided some crucial services in the organization and need to be rewarded financially may end up unpaid; on the other hand some others may be paid double. In other cases, some people are also paid for services which they did not provide. Upon identifying the loophole in the organizations financ...