HEALTHCARE FINANCE AND ECONOMICS

DISCUSSION BOARD DUE WEDNESDAY BY 11:59PM…. IN-TEXT CITATION AND REFERENCES NEED TO BE CITED AND APA FORMAT
 
In the business of health care, decision makers must determine on a regular basis what services to produce, how to produce them, how to distrbute them, as well as how to allow for growth and innovation. How are these decisions currently being made?
To prepare for this Discussion, complete the readings in your Learning Resources. Look online for recent news articles related to supply and demand in the health care industry.

Post a comprehensive response to the following:
Using examples from your Learning Resources and personal or professional experience, explain how health care is a market. In your answer, please be sure to address the following:

Discuss aspects of the health care marketplace in terms of the specific provisions that define a market.
How do the principles of managed care influence the business of health care?
Highlight how health care is different from the typical business market with a more tangible product (like applesauce)?
How do recent (within the last 18 months) supply and demand shifters (political, economic, social factors, etc.), exert influence on the supply or demand of health care goods or services?

Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning Resources and/or additional scholarly sources as appropriate. Your citations must be in APA format. Refer to the Essential Guide to APA Style for Walden Students to ensure your in-text citations and reference list are correct.
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RESOURCES
 
Penner, S. J. (2004). Introduction to health care economics & financial management: Fundamental concepts with practical applications. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Chapter 1, “Fundamental Principles of Health Care Economics”Health care is an important segment of the U.S. economy. How do factors like supply, demand, and price affect health care goods and services? This chapter will introduce you to the principles of health care economics.

Chapter 2, “Fundamentals of Insurance and Managed Care”Health insurance and managed care are critical to funding the business operations (and patient care) of most health care settings. This chapter introduces the role of incentives as patients and providers work to “buy and sell” health.
Ittelson, T. R., (2009). Financial statements: A step-by-step guide to understanding and creating financial reports. Revised and expanded edition. Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career Press.
Read pp. 3–14Running a health care setting is like running a business. The only difference between health care and other businesses is the product. In this text, the product of the company is applesauce. The product in health care is healthy people. All else is the same. Business and health care both have customers and suppliers. And both use economics and finance every day to determine if they are running effectively and efficiently.
Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
Scott, R. D., Solomon, S. L., & McGowan, J. E. (2001). Applying economic principles to health care. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 7(2), 282-285. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Health care presents numerous challenges because it lacks the characteristics commonly used to determine a market price. Yet health care managers must make decisions about resource allocation on a regular basis. This article explains the principles of perfect and imperfect markets as they apply to health care settings.