PUBPOL 5630 - Health Care Financial Management II

Fall. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: NCC 5560.

S. Nicholson.

This case-based course focuses on the financial analyses that managers in the health care industry use to make strategic and operating decisions. We will begin by examining how health insurers design and price their products and manage enrollees’ medical expenditures. The reimbursement methods that public and private insurers use in turn affect how physicians, health systems, and other providers are organized and managed. Therefore, we will measure a health system’s profitability by product/service line and examine how reimbursement can be used to align physician and hospital incentives. In the second half of the course we will we will review how firms set prices and forecast sales and cash flows. We will then review and apply three different methods of valuing medical products/services and companies: the expected net present value of free cash flows, multiples, and the venture capital method, and explore how to price products/services.

Outcome 1: Develop and justify operating and strategic decisions for various health care organizations.