signature assignment. please follow the instructions and rubric.

Financial Analysis of Two Competing California Hospitals

YOUR TWO HOSPITALS:  Cedars-Sinai Medical Center AND  Reagan UCLA Medical Center

This Signature Assignment is worth  50 points and is due the last day of class,  Saturday Feb 25th, midnight PST (no exceptions no late work accepted).  If you have not completed Steps 1-3 during the previous week's assignments, do them now in preparation for writing your paper.  Your well-written paper should include the following components or sections:

· Title Page:  Per APA style.

· Abstract.  Per APA style.  Your abstract should be 1 paragraph that tells the reader what the paper is about, the names of any entities being reviewed, your methods, AND your findings or results.

· Section 1: " Introduction"  Briefly provide a general overview of each hospital to include: location, bed size, annual inpatient volume, ownership type, affiliations, community/population(s) served, brief history, general goals/objectives, known specialties, awards/accolades, and any newsworthy items, etc. One concise paragraph per hospital or 1 page max for both. (6 pts)

· Section 2: " Table of Ratios & Benchmarks"  Using this  TABLE (SEE ATTACHMET) or one like it, and include your 5 financial and 5 operating ratios for each of the 2 hospitals for each of the last 3 years, including benchmarks for each year.   Benchmarks can be downloaded  HERE https://data.chhs.ca.gov/dataset/hospital-annual-financial-data-selected-data-pivot-tables .  (8 pts)

· Section 3:  " Analysis Part 1"  Define each ratio and how each is calculated (cite sources) and what each ratio tells you about hospital performance.  (Imagine you're presenting to the board of directors.  Help them understand your table of ratios in narrative form). (10 pts)

· Section 4:  " Analysis Part 2"  (1) Compare and summarize each hospital by year and ratio and against your benchmarks to determine which hospital is performing better on which ratios AND overall.  (2) Then offer "several" possible and reasonable explanations for your conclusion(s), based on the data and other research (e.g., Hospital A is part of a larger system that helps subsidize capital requirements; or Hospital B is a teaching hospital and draws from a larger population; or Hospital B has more emphasis on lucrative outpatient services, etc.)  You should be reviewing each hospital's annual reports to identify any competitive advantages, along with researching any news articles during this time period for clues about any major events/activities/construction/disruptions affecting performance (e.g., nursing shortage, expansion or closure of facilities, addition of new specialties, supply chain issues, pandemic response, etc) (10 pts)

· Section 5:  " Conclusion"  In 1-2 final paragraphs, state again which hospital is performing better overall and why during the last 3 years.

· Error-free grammar, Master's level writing, logical flow (10 pts)

· APA format  (6 pts)

Your analysis should be no more than  7 pages, double spaced, and thoroughly cited both in-text and in your reference page (note: there should be no reference page citation that isn't in the body of your paper).  Apply  APA style  to all your formatting, citations, and references. All papers should include:

· Title page, running head & page numbers; (not numbered)

· Abstract; (not numbered)

· Introduction (page 1)

· Table (page 2)

· Analysis Part 1: (page 3-4

· Analysis Part 2: (page 5-6)

· Conclusion (page 7)

· References page (numbered but not counted toward your 7 pages)