Customer Reviews

Introduction to Health Care Economics and Financial Management: Fundamental Concepts with Practical Application

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was fortunate to have Dr. Penner teach my health care economics class at Holy Names College. I found this book like her lectures informative, comprehensive and concise.

I highly recommend this book for both required reading and professional reading as it makes a relatively difficult subject easy to understand.

Need new edition. Some chapters are obsolete. Even our professor said this in class, in fact we have to skip a chapter since it is already irrelevant to current situation

I have taught graduate nursing students from Dr. Penner's book, and complimentary DVD, and have found it to be an excellent primer for basic economic and financial concepts! Dr. Penner illustrates, with extraordinary clarity, real-world applications of finance and accounting in healthcare. The resounding positive feedback from students in my courses is "Dr. Penner's book made me aware of how nurses need to be good stewards of the resources we have at work" and "it's not enough for nurses to provide quality care, but that which is cost-effective." I could cite a plethora of cases in which students have immediately applied the book's resources into new projects and processes at their workplaces because of their success illustrating the cost-benefit or ROI learned via Dr. Penner's book. Kate Nakfoor, Ed.D, MBA, MSIS, RN

This text is a simplistic overview of how a business plan is prepared. It is not in any way a primer on the understanding financial issues associated with Health Care.

The text appears as if it were the compilation with more words of presentations made to low level staff at hospitals on what finance is and how business plans are prepared. It totally lacks the detail that is required to understand the finances of Health Care systems.

First, Health Care systems are either for profit or non-profit and there are material differences.

Second, cost allocations by procedures and the price setting of those procedures goes to the heart of understanding the financial statements. The detail on this seems to be totally lacking.

Third, the ratio analysis that is at the heart of assessing the operations of a Health Care system seems also to be neglected.

Fourth, the collections of payments, whether they be Medicare of Third Party and how these are handled in the Health Care System financials seem also to be lacking.

One could go on and on. The text was a disappointment. There clearly is a need for a text that goes into depth on these and many more issues of this type, especially with the new current emphasis on Health Care and its reform. The financial statements of a Health Care provider are as important as the medical records of the patients. They tell where the problems are in the delivery of care from the cost and revenue perspective. They are the defense line against any impairment of funds due to lack of meeting standards.

This book missed the mark in my opinion on all these issues.

This item was great and a great price and on time. Amazon is one of the best websites to get books.