Week 2 Discussion Post 5 Document

There are several business and financial implications of the differences between

community not-for-profit hospitals and large academic medical centers that may affect

staffing, programs offered, and policies and procedures. Large academic medical centers

are actively involved in training physicians, nurses, and other health professionals, such as

therapists and dietitians. This gives academic medical centers unique access to talented

healthcare professionals who they can choose to permanently hire and add to their medical

staff. Community not-for-profit hospitals would not have this advantage unless they were a

teaching hospital and may have a more difficult time filling key roles within their medical

staff. A large academic medical center may also have a more complicated organizational

structure in comparison to community not-for-profit hospitals which may present staffing

and decision-making challenges.

! ! Large academic medical centers may also be able to offer a wider variety of treatments

and programs then a community not-for-profit hospital. Community not-for-profit

hospitals must develop and publicize written financial assistance policies and limit billing

and collection actions against patients who are eligible for assistance. This may limit the

scope of programs that they can offer as they balance finances with the goal of any

hospital which is to always provide the highest quality care possible. Policies and

procedures of large academic medical centers may also differ from community not-for-

profit hospitals as patients receiving care at a large academic medical center may be

receiving care from a healthcare professional in training. This expands the need of policies

and procedures to be able to speak to healthcare professionals in training providing care to

patients under supervision. This could potentially present privacy and ethical issues that

must be considered when forming the policies and procedures at a large academic medical

center.

! ! If a for-profit organization was built within my community it could result in significant

financial impact. For example, if the for-profit organization specializes in a particular

specialty, it could attract customers seeking that specialty and treatment away from

community not-for-profit hospitals. This loss in patients could cause the community not-

for-profit hospital to need to discontinue certain treatments and reduce the number of

hospital beds available. A trickledown effect this could cause is reduced charitable

donations by the community not-for-profit hospital which many communities and

community programs rely on for financial support. The increased competition of a for-

profit organization entering the market could also cause the cost of certain treatments to be

reduced which would benefit patients.

Some of the financial benefits of being an academic facility in comparison to a not-for-

profit facility include access to the latest technology. Academic facilities also benefit from

having the unique combination of patient care, research, and education that gives them a

distinct financial benefit over not-for-profit facilities. Academic facilities may also

perform clinical research which could lead to new treatment options and grant

opportunities. Academic facilities also typically will offer a wide variety of specialties and

treatments that may be more attractive to patients.

References:

Shi, L. (2018).Essentials of the U.S. Health Care System(5thEdition).Jones&

BartlettLearning.https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781284174144

DeCamp,M.,Pomerantz,D.,Cotts,K.,Dzeng,E.,Farber,N.,Lehmann,L.,Reynolds,P.P.,Sulmasy,

L.S.,&Tilburt,J.(2018,March).Ethical issues in the design and implementation of population

health programs.Journalofgeneralinternalmedicine.RetrievedMarch31,2022,from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5834965

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