Healthcare budgets are often classified by their managerial approach and their design characteristics. This Module’s Case will examine your understanding of the central types of healthcare budgets, and how they are used in the current setting. Production units, as specifically measured units of work volume in a given department or setting of service provision, will also be examined.
Using the information in the required readings, as well as some additional research in peer-reviewed sources, complete your Case assignment by answering the following:
1. Summarize both the benefits and the drawbacks of top-down vs. bottom-up budgeting. Which works best in your current or future setting?
2. Concisely describe the eight design characteristics of budgeting. Which do you feel would be most effective in running a for-profit hospital, and why?
3. Choose any department in the healthcare setting, and explain how their production units would be effectively measured. How do these production units tie into the larger budgeting process?
