Labor and Workload Analysis
Labor and Workload Analysis – Perform basic budgeting tasks for this healthcare organization. *** Goldenview’s New Service Line ~ PET Scans.
In 2009, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) expanded its Imaging payment coverage for cancer patients. Goldenview is considering the implementation of PET Scans (Positron Emission Tomography) for its growing cancer patient population, and to hopefully boost their revenue. It already offers MRI and CT scans, but this new service will require a separate staff to accommodate the volume of patients. The financial analysis team must estimate the impacts of the new service line, and determine its feasibility for the organization. These services will be offered in-house, to avoid complications with the Stark Law, which prohibits physician referrals to their entities in which they may have financial interest. There are still CMS Medicare physician fee schedule (PFS) capped payment rates to consider, so the labor costs are the first category to be examined. Financial guidance from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) encourages zero-based budgeting for government programs, so this must be a ‘ground-up’ calculation.
Based upon the annual outpatient ancillary volume shown in the above data, calculate total labor cost using the following FTE categories:
- (1) Medical Doctor/Radiologist @ $175.00 per hour
- (1) Registered Nurse @$70.00 per hour
- (2) Imaging Technicians @ $40.00 per hour
- 3 hours per patient/imaging procedure
- Assume fringe benefit percentage of 33%.
