Wed, May 16, 2012 HELP
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Welcome to the Board of Governors Exam Online Community.  This site is designed to answer many of your questions regarding the exam as well as offer you an opportunity to communicate with other affiliates studying for the exam. 
ACHE COMMUNITY BLOGS
Productive Core Staffing
Wed, 16 May 2012 14:40:36 Z
I am reviewing the sample questions from the guide; and, I am stuck on the productive core staffing calculation (question 112).  I can not seem to figure out how they arrived at 24.  I am using the following calculations:  Total FTE Needed = (Total Patient Care Hrs)/(# Prod Hrs/FTE) Daily Care Hrs = total Care hours/365 %prod * 2080 = # Prod Hrs/FTE Should&...

Human Resources
Tue, 15 May 2012 18:52:25 Z
I feel the single most important asset  in any healthcare organization is its staff those men and women selected to deliver care to patients and families. In terms of performance every aspect of an organization is affected by the caliber of employees hired and retained. by hiring high performers we  increase retention by improving morale and quality.

VA Worforce Planning
Tue, 15 May 2012 02:24:32 Z
I read these chapters and listen to the presentations with interested. As indicated in the text, "The Well Managed Healtcare Organization", A Human Resource function is to do workforce planning. Annually in our organization we create a strategic workforce succession plan to forecast potential human capital needs, however one aspect that is unpredicable is often the unfunded manadates (increase of ...

Sticky Ethical Conflicts
Mon, 14 May 2012 19:28:52 Z
How do you handle particularly sticky ethical conflicts when they involve your employer and reporting those conflicts would impact your professional standing in the organization currently, and potentially going forward in your professional career? I was at an organization where the CEO was diverting funds for personal use (with the approval of the board chair) and claiming 'over-time' as an exemp...

Operating Budget Principles
Sun, 13 May 2012 14:14:02 Z
Of clear interest to all HCOs and the most vital aspect of the finance section in my opinion is the development of the 10 year strategic plan by the board and the executive team and how the other parts of the operating budget directly feed into obtaining the strategic thrusts of the HCO. While I had previously understood in concept how each of the operating budget principles are entangle...

Joint ventures
Sat, 12 May 2012 13:56:20 Z
In chapter 13, White and Griffith suggested that joint ventures will continue to increase due to the higher return on equity available to cash-strapped healthcare organizations.  I wonder what effect the Affordable Care Act has on that projection.  I am aware that it restricted new physician owned hospitals but am not familiar with its treatment of joint ventures.  As we move more t...

Tools for Decision Analysis (helping justify clinical FTEE's)
Fri, 11 May 2012 10:20:16 Z
I don’t remember reading about any decision analysis tool for assessing the positive or negative impact of a particular decision, specifically hiring clinical staff? Rules of thumb, intuition, tradition, and simple financial analysis are no longer sufficient for addressing such common decisions as make-versus-buy, facility site selection, process redesign, and hiring of clinical staff at ...

Fixed versus variable expenses
Thu, 10 May 2012 23:24:09 Z
The explanation for variable versus fixed expenses is always a confusion when you add direct and indirect to the terminology.  Does anyone else find this confusing?  Tracy Giacoma

Bad Debt Expense
Thu, 10 May 2012 16:42:07 Z
While the Power Point presentation for this module was very helpful I am very confused about the rationale behind listing bad debt as an operating expense. The standard on-line definition of an operating expense is something along the following lines:  “A category of expenditure that a business incurs as a result of performing its normal business operations. One of the typical respo...

GAAP-setting Process
Wed, 09 May 2012 02:10:09 Z
With which GAAP-setting organization is the Audit Guide for Healthcare Facilities issued? 1. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 2. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) 3. American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA): Industry Committee 4. Healthcare Financial Management Association: Principles and Practices Board With which GAAP-setting organization are emer...


General Posting
Exam Knowledge Areas
Business
Strategic planning, marketing, business plans, contracts…

Finance
Accounting, financial management and principles, budgeting…

Governance/Organizational Structure
Governance and organizational structures, systems of authority and accountability…

Healthcare
Trends, healthcare economics and financing, healthcare professions…

Healthcare Technology
Technology trends, use of information systems, clinical applications, informatics…

Human Resources
Performance management systems, recruitment & retention, training, labor relations…

Laws and Regulations
Laws/regulations, patient’s rights, working with public & private organizations…

Management
Systems for organizational planning, organizing, directing and controlling…

Professionalism and Ethics
Codes of ethics, organizational ethics structures and processes, professional norms…

Quality and Performance Improvement
Performance and process improvement, medical staff processes, risk management…