For the Week 3 Assignment, you will be expected to investigate the financial condition of a health services organization (HSO) of your choosing. In preparation for the Week 3 Assignment, you are expected to submit a Microsoft Word document explicitly addressing the following:
- Utilizing the Strayer Library or other credible sources, you are to identify an HSO. Once identified, in a paragraph, share the name of the organization and provide a high-level overview of what kind of organization it is (e.g., home health, hospice, tertiary care facility, long-term care, subacute care, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, etc.) and the segments of the population that it supports.
- You will want to be sure there is plenty of information available about the organization, particularly financial information. This means you'll likely need to choose a large organization that is required to make financials public.
- One of the best ways to understand a company's financial health is to review its financial statements, including the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. These statements provide information about the company's assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, and cash flow. You can typically find these statements in a company's annual report if non-profit.
- For publicly traded HSOs, regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can provide additional information about the company's financial performance, management, and risks. These filings include the annual report, 10-K, 10-Q, and proxy statement
- To gain a better understanding of the financial condition of your chosen health services organization, its budget preparation process, and fiscal planning strategies, you will develop five questions that you will answer as part of your investigation. Ideally, these would be questions you would ask a management official responsible for the financial planning of the organization. It is important that you provide a brief explanation for why you chose to include each of the 5 questions.
- Think about questions that will give you greater insight into what the company looks for when preparing their annual budget, their fiscal planning strategies, and how they monitor their financial condition throughout the year and make necessary adjustments.
- Optional: You may also choose to use these questions to interview a financial manager within a healthcare organization. The interview would then be the source of your information instead of the research.