Financial issues for hospital auxiliaries.
Auxiliaries can serve a more important financial role in today's environment than ever before. Hospitals are searching for positive avenues to promote themselves to the community and to generate more financial support to help offset the losses created by decreasing inpatient utilization and payments from third-party payers. Auxiliaries should recognize that their financial role has never been more important to the financial viability of their hospitals. Auxiliaries should communicate closely with hospital administration so that both organizations work to achieve compatible goals. Auxiliaries should be operated more like businesses, which means establishing goals and objectives, preparing effective budgets and interim financial statements, thinking and planning innovatively, and establishing adequate inventory controls, investment policies, and pricing structures. If auxiliaries follow these steps, they will not only succeed in providing more financial support to hospitals than ever before but will also receive the recognition and support they deserve for their effort.
D002017:Budgets; D005376:Financial Management; D006741:Hospital Auxiliaries / Q000191:economics*; D006758:Hospital Volunteers / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States