Financial Differentiation
As the names suggest, for-profit healthcare organizations, apart from offering healthcare services, are also established to make financial gains. On the contrary, non-profit healthcare organizations are majorly established for public and social benefit. They do not intend to make profits for their owners. For-profit organizations sell their services at a cost that enables the organization to earn a profit. The proceeds are used to finance the operations of the facility(Rice & Unruh, 2015). On the other hand, non-profit healthcare organizations usually offer free services or charge a subsidized fee. Their operations and services are funded by donors and well-wishers. As much as the two types of organizations might offer similar services, they are established for different reasons.
B. Economic Differentiation
As aforementioned, for-profit and non-profit organizations are established for different reasons even if they might be operating in the same industry. As far as economic differentiation is concerned, for-profit organizations utilize economic principles that focus on buying goods at a lower price or manufacturing them and then reselling them at a higher price (Bender, 2020). The economic model for for-profit organizations focuses on minimizing losses and maximizing profits. On the other hand, non-profit organizations only utilize economic models that focus on sustainability; as long as the organization can sustain itself, that is what matters. Such organizations pay a lot of attention to employee accountability and responsibility to make sure everyone works responsibly to keep the organization functional. Non-profit organizations focus on best practices that revolve around client satisfaction rather than maximizing profits.
Policies, Changes, and Disparities
A. Economic Policies and Disparities in Healthcare
Economic policies have a direct impact on healthcare, and sometimes they cause disparities. For instance, health insurance is an economic policy that is intended to make healthcare affordable, especially in emergency cases that require substantial financial resources. Insurance determines the kind of services different patients receive depending on how much they contribute towards their coverage. Economic policies such as health insurance make access to healthcare affordable. The difference is different patients receive different types of care determined by their contributions (Rice & Unruh, 2015). There are disparities in healthcare occasioned by economic policies as seen above.
B. Policy Changes
One of the recent policy changes is the introduction of the Temporary Marketplace Premium Tax Credit Enhancement. This is a policy change that enables more people to afford healthcare coverage by widening the coverage. It is a move by the Biden administration to ensure there is more affordability in terms of accessing healthcare. If congress passes this into law, more than 14 million Americanswill receive affordable healthcare coverage. The impact that this policy has on the healthcare economic policy is the fact that organizations will have to adjust their policies so that they can accommodate the new development. There will be more demand for healthcare services because they are affordable tomore people. Healthcare organizations will be required to increase the supply of their products, services, and manpower to match the newly increased demand. When policies are made by the government, organizations in the affected industries need to adjust their strategies so that they can fit in the new environment.
C. Disparities Planning
Disparities must be factored into healthcare strategic planning because they affect operations and the productivity of the organization. It is essential to pay attention to such factors so that operations are streamlined and uninterrupted.Healthcare disparities, in simple terms, refer to differences in healthcare components such as insurance covers, types of diseases, types of healthcare needed, and income disparity among patients. The more disparities, the more challenging a situation is. With such a huge difference, there needs to be effective strategic planning for an organization to handle the situation (Hicks, 2020). For instance, in the case where a healthcare organization serves people who speak a different language than the native one, there needs to be a plan to have permanent language translators to ease the communication between patients and caregivers.
Organizational Impact and Recommendations
Introduction
Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine is a constituent college of the University of Miami (Miller). The University of Miami gives top-of-the-line patient care as it houses the region’s best doctors, backed by the extensive research conducted by the School of Medicine. The health care system brings together patient care, innovative research, and education, a critical approach to offering health care (“About Us – Jackson Health Foundation”, 2021). Within the Uhealth system, patients can participate in clinical trials and be the immediate beneficiaries of the innovations implemented fast from the laboratory to the bedside. The health system, consisting of over 1800 providers and specialists, provides state-of-the-art medical treatment for every patient.
The university has an affiliate hospital called Jackson Memorial Hospital, a central research area for medical studies, and a referral center. With over 600 doctors and over 1550 beds, the facility offers clinical practice and admits patients for medical care. The hospital comprises the Jackson Health System, which receives donations from the public and people of goodwill, the government, and other institutions. The facility also offers subsidized and funded medical care to the community that depends on it.
Nonprofit or For-Profit
As a nonprofit academic medical organization, Jackson Health System provides top-notch care to everybody who enters its doors. Jackson Health System ensures that all Miami-Dade County citizens are provided with the same high standard of care regardless of their capacity to pay. The Public Health Trust governs the Jackson Health System, a group of citizen volunteers who act on behalf of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners (“Jackson Memorial Hospital | 24/7 Emergency Services in Miami”, 2021). The philanthropic fundraising arm of South Florida’s most comprehensive healthcare system, Jackson Health System (JHS), is called Jackson Health Foundation. A volunteer board of directors oversees the Foundation, founded in 1991, and is dedicated to charitable endeavors supporting JHS’s medical programs and services. The Foundation contributes to addressing the programmatic needs and gaps in significant capital projects that are not covered by public bond financing. This is done through the kindness of caring donors.
Financials, Market, and Demand
Demand Theory
According to Goldberger (2019), the demand theory stipulates that the quantity of products or services consumers demand directly affects the prices that the products and services will go for in the market. Typically, when the demand for a product is very high, the supply of the product may be low. With this effect, the prices of the products or services will go up. On the other hand, when demand is low, the supply of the products and services may be high, leading to price drops. This is also happening in the medical sector, where disease outbreaks and pandemonium increase the demand for specific types of medicine and medical services. This is expected to earn a health facility more revenue than the rest of the working periods.
While looking at the 2021 audited accounts of the Jackson Health System, compared to the FY 2019 report, during the pandemic outbreak, the hospital system raised more revenues. In FY 2021, the Jackson Health Foundation Inc. reported total revenue of $14,635,358 compared to the audited accounts financial information reported in FY 2019, which showed that the foundation had total revenue of $11,088,938 (Andrea Suozzo, 2022). This is an indication that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for medical services increased, making the facility record a very high revenue.
Market Behavior Impact
Regarding market behavior, several circumstances can be considered; political climate, health issues, and the availability of medical services. Whereas market behavior is not a perspective that can be controlled, it can only be tackled after it has happened. Looking at the Jackson Health System, the onset of Covid-19 was a health crisis that had not been thought of before. There was no readiness for the pandemic as it was a natural occurrence. This resulted in a shift with which medical services were offered. With the demands to practice social distancing, movement restrictions, and the need to sanitize frequently, the firm changed how to interact with its patients(“Jackson Health System – 2021 Report To The Community”, 2021). The foundation developed an online portal where doctors could interact with patients virtually. In so doing, the hospital continued to operate and made more revenues, as indicted in its books of accounts.
Economic Legislative Changes
Legislative Changes
Many of the beneficiaries of the Jackson Health System are Medicaid patients; the health system, on the other hand, is the biggest Medicaid provider. The facilities under the health care system need to pay their workers who help serve the community, amounting to $150 million annually. The lawmakers, early in the financial year 2022, cut the additional “critical care” funding to a tune of $71 million for Jackson Health System (Gorchow, 2022). This implies that the facility will be financially constrained to offer medical services to the community. This will likely affect the community’s health services delivery as the facility will be forced to reduce the workforce or the amount of subsidy it gives to the patients on their medical billing. Therefore, the legislative changes are not friendly and will negatively impact the firm.
Policy Changes and Impact
