In running any business, it is important to identify and manage your revenue sources so you can remain financially viable. In a health care environment, this is particularly important. As you know, there may be many changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the horizon under the new Administration in Washington, D.C.

Research the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and:

1. In your first post:

Discuss one thing that you feel should remain the same with the new health care legislation that is expected from the current Administration, OR, discuss one change that you feel is greatly needed. Be sure to provide solid rationale for what you believe should remain the same or what aspect of the legislation should change.

Discuss the concept of Managed Care Organizations (MCOs). What is the goal of an MCO? Briefly discuss one strategy that is used by an MCO to reduce costs.

Reports of Revenue and Costs Notes EDOLE EDICAL CLINC Financial managers review financial information in the form of reports known as financial statements. One of the primary statements is the Income Statement, or Profit & Loss (P & L) Statement. The sources of income, inflows or revenues, are matched against the outflows, costs or expenses, for a particular period of time. The income statement tells a story about how profitable a company is by subtracting expenses from revenues to arrive at the profit or loss INCONESTA TEMENT Lighs & wer Dietury Expessrs OTAL NETDCOE What is important to realize is that profit or loss does not indicate how much cash an organization has because the report is developed based on accrual-based accounting. What this means is that revenues are reported when they are earned, and expenses are reported when they are incurred. For example, when a patient is seen in the office for a visit, he may be billed for this service at a later date. However, since the fee for this service had been earned on the date of the visit, it will be reported on the income statement on the date the visit occurred. If there were any expenses related to that visit, such as service time for the medical staff, then it would be reported on the date of the visit when the expenses were incurred Financial statements are covered in more detail later in this course. However, it is important you are exposed to how revenues and costs (expenses) are reported. Since healthcare organizations provide a service, the income statements look somewhat different than for a company that offers goods for sale. A merchandising company has a Cost of Goods Sold section, whereas a service organization that does not sell or manufacture products does not include this category. Review these example of a financial statement pictured on this page and for the organizations and will help you gain an understanding of how revenues and costs (expenses) are reported Both of these are for healthcare