Question

how do healthcare managers utilize budgets for planning, communication and control.

Answer 1

A health care manager has to perform a lot many duties to provide a proper quality healthcare facility at minimum cost and maximum profit. They have to perform a large number of duties like allocating budget uniformly, maintain the regular hospital supplies, ensure that all the people employed in the hospital get their due remuneration, and to manage all the activities of the hospital smoothly. Out of these activities, the most prominent activity is that of preparing budget and allocation of budgets in different activities.

The allocation of budget for planning is important for visualize the future requirement of funds. A health care department consists of various departments and budgetary allocation of funds in these departments requires huge planning. Some funds of the budget are kept aside for the operations of these departments. Health care set up requires huge infrastructural maintenance costs. Some budgetary funds are set aside for the construction and maintenance of these infrastructural costs. Some funds are similarly set aside for the extra purchase medicine and medical equipment. After all these budgetary allocations to planning in the different segments of the hospital, some part of the fund is kept aside for contingency planning ie. unforeseen events. Mangers have to first chalk out the funds required for the above planning activities and distribute them accordingly.

Next comes the budget allocation for communication. These are the expense required for maintaining communication all over the health care unit, digital communication, maintaining a database to communicate with the patient, bringing patients to the hospital via ambulance, etc. In the health care sector, communication between the different departments is very essential. Salary of all those staffs, who are specifically appointed for maintaining a good communication system has to be considered.  So, a manager has to take into consideration all these above expenses and allocated the required amounts.

The last function of the manager is to allocate the budget for controlling and monitoring of the activities of the health care departments. The manager has to look into expenses for controlling the laundry, cleaning, providing hygienic food, disposal of waste and bio waste e.t.c. There are many controlling activities done for the proper functioning of a health care unit. The manager has to estimate all these costs from the accounts department and allocate the funds to those departments.

For allocating the funds the manager has to take help from the accounts department to know about the actual expenses to be incurred and divide the funds accordingly.