Question

What is a healthcare business plan? How would you use a healthcare business plan to improve an organization? As part of your response, use at least two of the following terms: income statement, payback period, net present value, and internal rate of return.

Answer 1

A healthcare business plan involves preparing a document that outlines the services you plan to provide and how you intend to run your company. Healthcare businesses usually deal with reimbursement, fee schedules, billing systems, managed care contracts and operational issues. By describing how the company handles these challenges, you can prove to potential investors that your business strategy is sound and worthy of their investment.

Description of healthcare business

Write a description of healthcare business. For example, list how your service offers elderly or disabled clients non medical support at home. If you plan to purchase and run a franchise operation, the parent company typically provides information and training that describes the business.

For example, urgent care center businesses typically provide care by a certified physician, on-site lab services, prescription services and extended hours. Describe the skills and experience of staff such as technicians.

Marketing strategy and competitive analysis

Use online resources to identify the Industry outlook and trends in the healthcare industry. Identify the competitors. Analyse their strengths and weaknesses. Prepare own promotional campaigns, which could mean describing plans to develop a website to advertise your services or conduct an email marketing campaign to attract new customers.

Describe your community and how you intend to obtain referrals, such as making connections with doctors and hospital administrative personnel. These healthcare professionals frequently refer patients requiring home healthcare to local reputable agencies providing quality service to discharged patients.

Organization and Management

Add a section describing how you intend to organize your healthcare business. List the software programs you intend to use for charting and billing. Establish a mechanism for receiving payment and obtaining reimbursement for services. List the licenses required to operate a healthcare business and ensure that you meet the guidelines for providing healthcare services and that your services can be reimbursed by healthcare insurance.

Financial and Strategic goals

Describe how you plan to finance your company and specify a multi-year plan. For example, state the number of patients you hope to serve by the end of the first year. Classify these patients by type such as home healthcare or personal injury cases. Set success criteria such as 80 percent customer satisfaction as reported by follow-up surveys conduct with clients. Make sure that you provide the income statement which shows the company's revenues and expenses during a particular period.Ensure that you pay the taxes and adhere to all the required regulations.

Net Present value is the difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows over a period of time. NPV is used in capital budgeting and investment planning to analyze the profitability of a projected investment in healthcare industry.