Implicit Knowledge Assets in Healthcare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Implicit Knowledge Assets in Healthcare - Essay Example In their drive towards improving efficiency and cutting cost, Knowledge Management has come as a concept with immense potential. The present case is of a Spine Unit in USA, which is in the environment as described above, and the paramount need is leveraging the potential of its two key assets, technology and knowledge in a manner which is able to enhance its efficiency and reduce costs. The Spine Care unit has rich knowledge assets comprising of surgeons and medical staffs from the disciplines of Neurology, Neuro-surgery, orthopedics, spine surgeons, psychologists, physical therapists and pathologists. It is a technology intensive unit with advanced technologies deployed at clinical side in the form of medical equipments and in the practice management side it has extensive IT facilities like Hospital Management Information System (HMIS).   The unit has well developed protocols based on data/information from NCQA, medical journals and its own systems. It is clear from the details th at the Spine Unit is not exploiting the potential of its implicit knowledge assets in a structured and strategic manner despite the fact that it has majority of KM technology in place.   The issue is to leverage the unit’s existing strength and deploy a full-fledged KM system. It is beyond doubt that knowledge and its management involves only one thing – people, all others are enablers. Larry Prusak says â€Å"Knowledge flows along existing pathways in organizations. If we want to understand how to improve the flow of knowledge., we need to understand those pathways.† [citation?] The KM solution for the Spine unit has to exploit the KM concept which creates Communities of Practice, enhances sharing and enriching knowledge, promotes networking and bonding among employees. We see a gap in people focused KM mechanisms, systems and technologies. Proposed solution The objective is to create a KM system comprising of compulsory elements and voluntary elements of KM systems. It is with the approach of leveraging and integrating the exiting assets and existing IT technology Compulsory elements: At every decision point viz. admission of patient, diagnosis, surgery, post operative care, people concerned will be required to refer to the KM system. For example while making a decision to admit the patient one will be required to access the system and system will â€Å"Push† relevant information i.e. patient history, probable diagnosis, past experiences, experts list to ensure the best decision in a quick manner. [

Financial Managment worksheet 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Financial Managment worksheet 2 - Essay Example Then the financial analysis should also incorporate the effect of finishing project A (in 5 years) and starting project C (and continuing it for 2 years) while making the decision between project A and B. If your organization grew by 10% - identify the incremental costs you would incur. What if your organization grew by 100% How/why would the costs differ Discuss this concept in relation to accounting and economic factors. The incremental cost would increase in the same proportion (10%) for some time. This is because the existing fixed cost will not change till the entire existing capacity is exhausted. Up to this stage, there will be a direct relationship between organization growth and increase in incremental costs. However, once the existing capacity is exhausted and there is a need to obtain additional equipment, plant, etc., then the fixed cost will increase as well. In this case, the relationship between incremental cost and organization growth will no longer be 1:1. From economic standpoint, the relationship between incremental cost and organization growth may not be direct even for small growth (10%). This is because there may be other economic factors to consider, for example, potential projects that may have to be let go due to organization growth in one business line. Yes, EVA has an impact on capital budgeting decisions. ... From economic standpoint, the relationship between incremental cost and organization growth may not be direct even for small growth (10%). This is because there may be other economic factors to consider, for example, potential projects that may have to be let go due to organization growth in one business line. Do EVA considerations impact capital budgeting decisions How could a company incorporate the idea of EVA into their capital budgeting decision process Yes, EVA has an impact on capital budgeting decisions. EVA is a method to calculate true economic income of an organization, and should be employed by management in making capital budgeting decisions. Since EVA is the net income of the organization adjusted after incorporating opportunity cost of the invested capital; so the capital that will be used to finance a particular budget should be able to generate enough income to meet EVA and not just financial net profits. EVA = Net income - Capital charge (cost of capital x invested capital) CASE STUDY Introduction This paper consists of financial analysis of two projects in order to select the project which will benefit the company the most. The financial calculations are provided in Appendix 'A' of the paper. The details of the projects are provided below: Project 1 Project 2 Cost $800,000 $650,000 Useful Life 10 years 8 years Salvage Value None None Incremental Sales $500,000 $375,000 Cost of Goods Sold 49% of sales 43% Advertising $50,000 10% of sales Depreciation Straight-line Straight-line Tax rate 40% 40% Discount rate 10% 10% The underlying assumption is that the two projects are equally risky. Recommendation The results of financial analysis reveal that Project 1 is better of the two