Working in the healthcare field often requires many years of schooling, on-the-job training, and hours of professional development to keep licenses current. You have likely spent considerable time and money to get where you are today. Whether you are currently working in a healthcare facility, looking to change to a different one, or applying for employment, the financial health of the facility is important to your future. You want to work somewhere that will pay you on time and provide benefits and job security. According to Flanagan (2018), 8% of the roughly 6,000 private and public hospitals are at risk of closing due to poor financial health.

While managers need to be fluent in the language of finances and financial statements, anyone working in the healthcare field should be able to read an annual report as a gauge of financial health. The annual report is one of the few financial reports that are available to the public. If you are considering a change, knowing whether your new place of employment is fiscally sound would be a good step in your research.

There are many financial statements organizations use to track spending, cash flow, budgets, and, ultimately, financial health. A manager needs to be familiar with these statements, what they mean, and how they can be used to improve financial performance and, ultimately, the financial health of a department or institution.

Resources: Flanagan, C. (2018). U.S. hospitals shut at 30-a-year pace, with no end in sight. Bloomberg. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-21…

Review the Learning Resources for this week and reflect on how the accrual principle is different for you as an individual from those in a healthcare setting.

Reflect on how financial statements can be used to demonstrate financial health and how these statements can improve financial performance of a department in a healthcare setting.

Review the key terms provided in the beginning of Chapter 12 of the textbook and the impact these have on financial reporting in healthcare.

By Day 4

Post a comprehensive response to the following:

• Explain how the basic accounting rule under the accrual principle might differ for you as an individual (or family) from those applied in a healthcare setting. Be specific and provide examples. 
• Explain how financial statements might be used to demonstrate the financial health of a healthcare setting.
• Provide an example of how a manager would use a financial statement to improve the financial performance of a department in a healthcare setting. Be specific and provide examples.