HEALTH 27 P2

PART 1

Assignment Overview

In recent years, healthcare pricing has come under much scrutiny. Calls for price transparency have been made, loudly and clearly. Discounting prices to some recipients or payers occur, but how and why does this happen? Patients with insurance typically pay an insurance-negotiated discounted rate, while patients without insurance can be asked to pay the full amount that is charged by the provider or facility. Why can’t you simply look on each provider’s website to see the exact cost of your office visit, or your x-ray? With the many methods of cost-setting available to us as healthcare managers, we see how there is a high degree of variability in the amount charged per service from person to person, and state to state. In moving towards either voluntary or state-mandated transparency in healthcare pricing, we consider the following Case assignment questions.

Case Assignment

After completing the required background readings, please complete the following questions:

1. Describe the recent scrutiny of the methods of healthcare pricing. Is this scrutiny justified, or unjustified?

2. What can healthcare managers do to be best prepared for increasing future calls for transparency (either voluntary, or state-mandated)?

3. How have state transparency laws affected healthcare pricing in your home state, or state of current residency? Can you locate the exact costs of healthcare services you or your family may need in the near future?

4. How is cost-shifting implemented within the healthcare settings? Do you believe this ethical?

Assignment Expectations

1. Conduct additional research to gather sufficient information to support your analysis.

2. Provide a response of 3-5 pages, not including title page and references.

3. As we have multiple required items to be addressed herein, please use subheadings to show where you’re responding to each required item and to ensure that none are omitted.

4. Support your paper with peer-reviewed articles and reliable sources. Use at least three references, and a minimum of two of these from peer-reviewed sources. For additional information on how to recognize peer-reviewed journals, see 

http://www.angelo.edu/services/library/handouts/peerrev.php

 and for evaluating internet sources:

https://www.library.georgetown.edu/tutorials/research-guides/evaluating-internet-content

PART 2

After completing the required background readings, please complete the following:

Imagine you are the Practice Manager of a multi-physician primary care center in Pennsylvania. The four physician-owners have asked you to make a presentation to them on how their group’s profitability could be improved, without having to raise their charges/rates for services. Using Exhibit 8.5 and 8.6 in Dr. Nowicki’s textbook (see required background reading), as well as some research in peer-reviewed sources of your own, create a professional-looking PowerPoint presentation of 6-8 slides which clearly summarizes the information the physicians are requesting. Include thorough speaker’s notes to further expand upon and explain your points.

SLP Assignment Expectations

1. Conduct additional research to gather sufficient information to support your presentation.

2. Provide 6-8 quality PowerPoint slides of bulleted-point information content (with speaker’s notes), not including title page and reference slides. Don’t forget to use in-text citations.

3. Support your presentation with peer-reviewed articles and reliable sources. Use at least two peer-reviewed sources. For additional information on how to recognize peer-reviewed journals, see 

http://www.angelo.edu/services/library/handouts/peerrev.php

 and for evaluating internet sources:

https://www.library.georgetown.edu/tutorials/research-guides/evaluating-internet-content

4. You may use the following source to assist in your formatting your references and in-text citations for your slides: 

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

. Paraphrase all source information into your own words carefully and use in-text citations.

5. Be sure that you do not cut and paste material into your slides, but use proper quotations where needed, and also citations for all reference materials. The same expectations apply to PowerPoint presentations as to documents.