Description
Complete a proposal for a scenario where you need to develop a strategy to reduce the overall budget by 10 percent.
In this assessment, you will put your newly acquired skills to work as you dissect an actual budget and make decisions on where cuts can and must be made. You will use the information that you’ve gathered over the previously to make informed and empathetic decisions about how your limited resources will be spent. You will take into account the information you have from your department heads as well as the information your gathered about current wage scales in your area in an attempt to bring your budget back into line while not sacrificing quality, regulatory compliance, or the welfare of your staff both personally and professionally. This will be a challenging assessment, but one that health care leaders are facing every day and one that you will no doubt face in your career. Try to be as realistic as possible in your recommendations, keeping in mind not only the well-being of your organization and customers, but also that most budget cuts in health care come from the payroll and there are real-life consequences in those decisions for everyone in your charge.
How can internal benchmarks be used to help identify best practices within an organization?
How might an organization use external benchmarks to measure and monitor performance?
What is a scorecard, and how is it used to track financial performance?
Would you reduce each line item by 10 percent? Why is this the best approach? Also, how do you intend to handle fixed costs with this approach?
Would you select specific line items to reduce by 10 percent? Why is this the best approach? If so, how would you pinpoint which line items to reduce?
Would you put a freeze on all hiring, training, travel, and purchasing? Why is this the best approach?
What other ideas do you have to cut your overall budget by 10 percent without affecting the care that you provide?
Explain how the reduced operating budget aligns with an organization’s target profit margin.
These recommendations may include multiple line items and may overlap but should be three separate and distinct options for senior leadership to consider.
For example, in one recommendation, you suggest cutting department heads, reducing food costs, and eliminating bonuses to get you to the magic number. In a separate recommendation, you may suggest reducing overall staffing, eliminating bonuses, and reducing food costs.
Prior to making your recommendations, be sure to review the Staffing and Budgeting Dilemmas in Health Care media, introducing you to your department heads and what their specific needs and concerns are regarding the budget. This should influence your decision about priorities and what you may want to avoid when cutting back.
Do some research to see what the literature is suggesting to address this problem.
You will need to develop a 10-percent budget reduction proposal for the scenario in the Staffing and Budgeting Dilemmas in Health Care media.
Vila Health: Staffing and Budgeting Dilemmas in Health Care (capella.edu)
Use the Budget Reduction Proposal Template [DOCX) to complete your recommendations
Address the following in the introductory page for this request:
Offer at least three solutions to reduce the budget by 10 percent.
Be sure to include references to at least two scholarly and/or authoritative sources in your operating budget proposal. Follow current APA guidelines for in-text citations and references.