The following statements are about the option for health plan funding known as a self-funded plan. Select the answer choice containing the correct response:
Many clinicians are concerned about the development of practice guidelines that seek to define appropriate healthcare services that should be provided to a patient who has been diagnosed with a specific condition. To avoid the risk associated with using such guidelines, health plans should advise clinicians that the existence of such a guideline:
1. Establishes standards of care to be routinely utilized with all patients presenting a specific condition
2. Preempts a physician’s judgment when assessing the specific factors related to a patient’s condition
In order to print all of its forms in-house, the Prism health plan is considering the purchase of 10 new printers at a total cost of $30,000. Prism estimates that the proposed printers have a useful life of 5 years. Under its current system, Prism spends $10,000 a year to have forms printed by a local printing company. Assume that Prism selects a 15% discount rate based on its weighted-average costs of capital. The cash inflows for each year, discounted to their present value, are shown in the following chart:
Prism will use both the payback method and the discounted payback method to analyze the worthiness of this potential capital investment. Prism's decision rule is to accept all proposed capital projects that have payback periods of four years or less.
Now assume that Prism decides to use the net present value (NPV) method to evaluate this potential investment's worthiness and that Prism will accept the project if the project's NPV is greater than $4,000. Using the NPV method, Prism would correctly conclude that this project should be
The core of a health plan's strategic financial plan is the development of its pro forma financial statements. The following statements are about these pro forma financial statements. Select the answer choice containing the correct statement.