Exam 20: Managing Costs and Budgets

After reviewing her monthly budget report, the nurse manager sees that she has a negative variance, which prompts her to change the staffing schedule.A negative or unfavorable variance in a monthly expense report may result from:

The chief nursing office continues to seek ways to improve healthcare services to clients and to save the hospital money.However, with the federal guidelines of paying agencies based on capitation, the chief nursing office faces a challenge.Capitation provides incentives for healthcare providers to control costs by:

The chief nursing office of a Magnet hospital has conducted a study of ways to improve healthcare services.Healthcare services that add value for clients:

Of the following, which is the most effective strategy that a nurse manager could employ to reduce unnecessary costs in specific healthcare settings?

Which of the following are considered variable costs? (Select all that apply.)

An older adult couple with limited means and on Medicare is considering options after the hospitalization of Mrs.A.with a fractured hip.Mrs.A.is stable but requires assistance with bathing, transfer, and mobility, and this will present stress for Mr.A., who was hospitalized with a mild myocardial infarction last year.Considering their means and health concerns, which of the following might be the best option?

The difference between a nurse practitioner's charge of $45 for an office visit and the insurance company's payment of $34 is:

Because of the complexity of reimbursement systems and its implications for the services available to patients, the nurse has a key role in:

A nurse manager is planning to request three new infusion pumps at a cost of approximately $1500 each.This item would typically be included in which budget?

A nurse manager approves two staff nurses to attend a national conference.When reviewing the budget, the nurse manager looks at which line item?

As an experienced nurse manager who is new to an organization, it would be important to:

Physicians in a small urban hospital are reluctant to discharge older adult patients because many of the patients lack private insurance and the resources to travel distances for follow-up care.The hospital administration pressures the physicians to discharge patients sooner and to be more consistent with the number of hospitalization days specified within the DRGs.Which of the following would most likely prompt the action of administrators?

A nurse manager discovers that the actual number of visits per patient in a home health service is 3.8 visits per day when the standard is 5 visits per day.Based on this information, the nurse manager:

A nurse manager is planning to request three new infusion pumps at a cost of approximately $1500 each.What would BEST support the capital request?

Within a healthcare environment, where the gap between revenues and costs can mean the difference between sustainability of an organization and nonsustainability of an organization or services, it is critical for nurse managers to:

The chief nursing officer works with her nurse managers by helping them understand how to develop and implement a budget.A nurse manager can best describe a budget as a:

Which of the following factors is not implicated in rising healthcare costs?

In preparing her budget, a nurse manager determines that she needs to budget for six FTE RN positions in the upcoming year.The nurse manager determines that RN 1 has 5 weeks of vacation and 3 days of education and has averaged 3 sick days a year.RN 2 has 6 weeks of vacation, has asked to attend a 3-day conference and a 2-day workshop, and has no history of sick time.RN 3 is new, and you anticipate 3 weeks of orientation, as well as 4 weeks of vacation.RN 4 has 6 weeks of vacation and has an ongoing health condition, so you anticipate 2 weeks of sick time, as well as 3 days for education.RN 5 has 5 weeks of vacation, has no education planned, and averages 5 sick days per year.RN 6 has 6 weeks of vacation, has no educational opportunities planned, and has been off ill for 4 weeks.How many hours of productive paid time can be anticipated for the budget?

An example of an initiative that may reduce total healthcare costs would be:

The primary reason for calculating productive hours paid instead of simply calculating work paid per year is that productive hours enable the manager to: