This books offers a broad coverage of health care topics for a non-financial person. It is most deeply flawed for its inability to communicate clearly to a lay person. Essentially it is a vocabulary primer of important financial principles and concepts. It requires abstract thinking and the ability to follow mathematical models.This reader studied Cleverly's text as a requirement for a healthcare finance class. The text was frustrating as this reader attempted to "know" everything about healthcare finances; however, this is probably not the intent of the book. It does present a road into the foreign land of finances. It demands respect for another set of data and another language for interpreting that data. One does not master this data set at one pass, however.
Nevertheless, this reader did gain some new financial information. At the risk of being simplistic, but communicative; a listing of some of the concepts learned follows:
1. There are many users of financial information.
2. Financial information can guide the formation of programs.
3. Financial management is essential for successful healthcare organizations.
4. Various qualities of health care organization types.
5. How health care organizations make up for discouting and bad debt and capitated payments.
6. General principles of accounting and why they are important. Also that these principles still need to be explained, to be consistent, and to be clarified.
7. Overview of four main types of financial statements with a brief explanation of vaious line items.
8. That financial planning includes considering inflation before it happens, and for equipment etc. to break and wear out before it breaks or wears out.
9. That financial information can be better understood by comparing financial ratios of different line items and trends over time. There are national benchmarking ratios available and Cleverly gives some and tells how to get more.
10. That financial planning should be an orderly process in an organization.
11. There are different types of costs. Some stay the same, some are overhead types. Some are direct, some are hidden. Some can be controlled, some cannot.
12. Figuring out prices is a very complex process in healthcare. It is based on costs and payers. It must also include indirect costs and costs of future problems.
13. There is still stuff to learn . . . And this reader is still no expert.
Finally, after this MSN course and this text, this reader is more conversant with the financial landscape. It holds interest and it is understandable, after all.
