70135 - ACCOUNTING IN HEALTHCARE

Anno Accademico 2018/2019

  • Docente: Emanuele Padovani
  • Crediti formativi: 5
  • SSD: SECS-P/07
  • Lingua di insegnamento: Inglese
  • Modalità didattica: Convenzionale - Lezioni in presenza
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Laurea Magistrale in Health economics and management / economia sanitaria e management (cod. 8880)

    Valido anche per Laurea Magistrale in Economia e politica economica (cod. 8420)

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

This course provides students with some frameworks concerning the use of accounting in the healthcare sector. In particular, it focuses on how management accounting information can support managers of healthcare organizations in decision making. Starting from the basic tools of management accounting and management control, the course explores the issues that healthcare managers face in working within an organization where professionals (especially clinicians) influence decision making, and where a growing demand for services can compromise financial sustainability. Students who complete the course successfully know about: • The characteristics of healthcare organizations that affect the way they do business, and that influence how they design their management accounting systems • Ways that organizations can account for their costs and how the cost accounting effort can assist managers to deliver more efficient services, and also help them to determine appropriate prices when necessary • How responsibility centers can be used to encourage all the actors to adhere to the organization’s strategic goals • Why some programming decisions require a capital investment analysis, and how to undertake the appropriate analyses through accounting information • Some ways to prepare the operating budget in a healthcare setting • The important characteristic of performance measurement in healthcare organizations • How to design a useful set of reports (both financial and non-financial) for managers of a healthcare organization • How the technique of variance analysis can improve a manager’s understanding of the reasons underlying the differences between actual and budgeted financial results, and thus help the manager to choose the appropriate course of action

Contenuti

The title of each session, its focus, and the preparation requirements (in italics are the cases contained in the e-Packet - see Reading/bibliography) are as follows:

 

Lecture #1 - Introduction to the Course 

Goal:

To review the syllabus, discuss course expectations, answer questions about the course, and discuss the process of analyzing a case.

Assignment:

1.   Read the syllabus and the Preface to the book, and be prepared to ask any questions you have about the course.

 

Lecture #2 - Full cost accounting – fundamentals

Goal:

To discuss and train on fundamentals of full cost accounting (tutorial).

Assignment:

1.   Read Chapter 2, Essentials of Full-Cost Accounting.

2.   Be prepared to actively participate in solving the problems presented by the teacher.

 

Lecture #3 - Full cost accounting

Goal:

To prepare and use a stepdown analysis in full cost computation for decision-making purposes.

Assignment:

1.  Re-read Chapter 2 and review what you have done during the tutorial session (class #2).

2.  Analyze Harbor City Community Center. Complete the assignment at the end of the case.

 

Lecture #4 - Differential cost accounting – fundamentals

Goal:

To discuss and train on fundamentals of differential cost accounting (tutorial).

Assignment:

1.   Read Chapters 3 & 4, Cost Behavior and Differential Cost Accounting.

2.   Be prepared to actively participate in solving the problems presented by the teacher.

 

Lecture #5 - Differential cost accounting

Goal:

To decide whether to keep or discontinue a product line operating at a loss.

Assignment:

1. Re-read Chapters 3 & 4 and review what you have done during the tutorial session (class #4).

2. Read and analyze Lakeside Hospital. Complete the assignment at the end.

 

Lecture #6 - Activity based costing – fundamentals

Goal:

To discuss and train on fundamentals of activity based costing (tutorial).

Assignment:

1. Read Chapters 5, Activity-Based Costing.

2. Be prepared to actively participate in solving the problems presented by the teacher.

 

Lecture #7 - Activity based costing

Goal:

To assess the full cost of a product or service in a more complex setting.

Assignment:

1. Re-read Chapter 5 and review what you have done during the tutorial session (class #6).

2. Read and analyze Neighborhood Servings. Complete the assignment at the end.

 

Lecture #8 - Responsibility accounting

Goal:

To distinguish between cost accounting and responsibility accounting, and to identify the responsibility accounting framework.

Assignment:

1. Read Chapters 6 & 7, Responsibility Accounting: An Overview and Designing the Responsibility Accounting Structure.

2. Read and analyze Franklin Health Associates (A). Complete the assignment at the end.

 

Lecture #9 - Budgeting

Goal:

To build a budget using cost drivers.

Assignment:

1. Read Chapter 9, Operational Budgeting.

2. Read and analyze North Lake Medical Center. Complete the assignment at the end.

 

Lecture #10 - Measuring & Reporting

Goal:

To compare actual results to the budget using cost drivers.

Assignment:

1. Read Chapter 11, Measuring and Reporting.

2. Read and analyze Los Reyes Hospital (B). Complete the assignment at the end.

Testi/Bibliografia

The course uses the following textbook:

David W. Young (2014) Management Accounting in Health Care Organizations (3rd edition), San Francisco, Jossey-Bass

An "e-Packet" containing all teaching cases that will be used during each class starting from class #3, will be sent out to students who provide evidence that they have obtained a copy of a book, by the teacher -- who has already gotten in touch with the publisher.

Metodi didattici

The course will use a combination of readings, interactive lectures, and case discussions.  Almost all classes are conducted according to the case method of instruction.  Cases bring a small chunk of the real world into the classroom setting, where students can examine it, determine what problems exist, discuss optional approaches to dealing with them, and assess the consequences of alternative courses of action. 

This is not a course where a professor lectures and students write down what he/she says.  Almost all classes require the students to read and analyze a case study in advance, and then to contribute in a significant way to the class discussion of the case. As a result, most of the learning comes from students' analyses of the cases and the discussion of those analyses during the class sessions.   For many students this will be a major change from their previous educational experiences.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Grading will be based on a combination of two written case analyses and students' contributions to the class discussions. The first written analysis will be done by teams. The second will be an individual effort, that correspond to the final written exam. How to prepare a good written case analysis is discussed during the first class and is contained in a document that is distributed to students after the first class.

Classroom contribution will be evaluated in terms of the analytic rigor of a student's comments, coupled with his or her contributions to a productive and rich case discussion. Students therefore need to prepare each case in advance and engage actively in the discussion of the case in class.

The grading percentages are as follows:

- Class Contribution (40%)

- Team case written analysis (20%)

- Individual case written analysis - final exam (40%).

What is considered to be a good "class contribution" and "written analysis" will be contained in a memo that will be distributed to students after the first class. Students will also have the possibility to have an individual interview at the end of the course.

Non-attending students must send 3 individual memos (on any of the cases listed above) out by email to the teacher 30 days before the date of the exam (see Almaesami portal for the next date available) that will consist of an interview.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Emanuele Padovani

SDGs

Salute e benessere Città e comunità sostenibili

L'insegnamento contribuisce al perseguimento degli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile dell'Agenda 2030 dell'ONU.