Take My Liberty BUSI 323 Class

In Liberty's catalog, BUSI 323 is healthcare financial management in practice: how money comes in through the revenue cycle and goes out through disbursements, how budgets and forecasts are built, how controls and reports keep the books honest, how contracts are managed, why a service business is financed differently from a manufacturer, and what can be said for and against single-payer coverage.

In the published guide, Module/Week 1 reads Cleverley and Cleverley's first chapter on the healthcare industry and asks for the checklist, introductions and Group Discussion Board Forum 1, worth 50 points. Module/Week 2 covers the financial environment and asks for Homework 1, worth 50, and Exam 1, worth 100.

Module/Week 3 covers financial statements and asks for Group Forum 2 and approval of your research topic. Module/Week 4 covers financial analysis and cost concepts and asks for Homework 2, worth 75, and Exam 2.

Module/Week 5 covers pricing and budgeting with Group Forum 3. Module/Week 6 covers chapters on capital and investment with Homework 3 and Exam 3.

Module/Week 7 asks for Group Forum 4 and the research paper, worth 125, the largest single written item. Module/Week 8 closes with Homework 4 and Exam 4.

BUSI 323 alternates writing weeks with exam weeks, and the plan follows that pattern. Group forum posts and the research paper are prepared in the odd-numbered weeks; homework is prepared early in the even-numbered weeks so your exam preparation in the same week is not interrupted.

Group forums are posted to a small group rather than the whole class. The writer drafts your thread on the week's finance question, such as the effect of payer mix on revenue or the use of ratios to judge a hospital's health, and replies once your group members post.

Homework, where your section has you submit worked problems as a file, is prepared with every calculation shown and each answer explained. Where homework is done on an online platform inside your account, it stays yours.

The research topic is proposed in Module/Week 3 for approval. Good choices include site-neutral payment, the financial effect of value-based purchasing, hospital price transparency, the finances of rural hospital closures or the single-payer debate the catalog mentions.

The paper reaches you a week before Module/Week 7, built on current data and Cleverley and Cleverley's concepts.

BUSI 323 is assigned to a writer with graduate training in healthcare finance or accounting, often someone who has worked as a financial analyst, revenue cycle manager or budget officer in a hospital or physician group.

The writer works from Cleverley and Cleverley's treatment of financial statements, ratio analysis, cost behavior, pricing, budgeting and capital decisions, and uses the same terms and formulas the exams expect.

Every calculation in the homework and the research paper is recomputed by a second reviewer with finance training before delivery.

The research paper draws on current sources such as CMS payment rules, the American Hospital Association, MedPAC reports and peer-reviewed health economics research.

Your employer's figures are never used unless you choose to share them, and even then the organization is not named.

The first sticking point is vocabulary. Revenue, gross charges, net patient revenue, contractual allowances and bad debt mean specific things in healthcare finance, and forum posts or homework that blur them lose points.

The second is calculation. Ratio analysis, cost allocation, break-even analysis and time value of money all need accurate arithmetic and correct formulas, and a single slip in an early step carries through a homework set.

The third is the exam schedule. Four exams in alternate weeks, worth 400 points together, reward steady study, and students who spend those weeks on homework fall behind.

The fourth is the group forums, which depend on group members posting in time for replies.

The last is the research paper. A paper that explains a policy but never puts figures on what it does to revenue or cost misses what the course is testing, and most of the 125 points go with it.

Arranging help before the term begins lets Group Forum 1 be ready for week one and Homework 1 be finished early in week two, ahead of Exam 1.

The research topic goes to your professor for approval during Module/Week 3, and the paper is finished a week ahead of Module/Week 7.

Each later homework set reaches you at the start of its week, leaving the rest of the week for exam study, and each group forum thread a few days before its window.

The quote lists the four group forums, the research paper and any homework submitted as files, each with its Module/Week and share. The four exams and the checklist are left off.

Students who join mid-course pay only for the items still ahead, and the research paper continues from an approved topic if they already have one.