Accounting Considerations of Healthcare Mergers Essays

Accounting Considerations of Healthcare Mergers Essays Accounting Considerations of Healthcare Mergers Paper Accounting Considerations of Healthcare Mergers Paper Health care is a necessity not a want. For, people get sick and the hospitals and other health care providers are there to intervene so that the patients’ lives will be prolonged. Yes, prolonged provided the patient has the money   to pay for such health care help. The state has stepped in by saying that not for profit hospitals should not distribute the profits to the stockholders but instead use it to pay for the daily operating expenses of the hospitals. The following paragraphs explains the role of the certified public accountants to help even the playing field between the health care providers and the health care users. BODY ARTICLE 1 The article The Corrosive Combination of Nonprofit Monopolies and U.S. Style Health Insurance: Implications for Antitrust Merger Policy (Richmond, 2007) shows that health care costs are rising. Thus, the world alarm must be turned on to awaken everybody. Further, there ought to be an antitrust investigation into the entire health care process. Meaning that the courts of justice must now take a lawful stand on   the possible antitrust liabilities of the hospitals in terms of concentration. The arguments have heated up because the there is doubt as to   how the not for profit hospitals dictate their hospital bills. For, the courts of law have already decided in 1994 that not for profit hospitals should literally implement their no profits policy. This policy of not for profit means that the profits of the hospitals will be used solely for the payment of the daily hospital operating expenses and costs   and not a single cent will be given to the stockholders of the company. Also, many hospitals have entered into a supracompetitive and supramonopoly of the prices of   their healthcare services. For, the current increases in the prices of healthcare costs is caused by the â€Å"increasing suppy-side market power as a result of hospital consolidations and the growth of provider organizations. Clearly, many quarters in the United States are bent on asking the help of government authorities like the federal antitrust enforcers to finally cut the doings of these hospitals in their tracks now. For, this growing hospital monopoly of dictating what the patients have to pay for their health needs should not be made a mere ‘market’ economy. However, many of the antitrust officers   have been receiving the losing end of the debates over such hospital mergers. To date, the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice and the state antitrust enforcers have bonded together to challenge   many proposed hospital mergers. Dismally, their record shows that they have loss seven cases and have not yet won a single case as the formidable healthcare providers. This has prompted the comment that the antitrust officers and their companions are up against a brick wall for having a very uncertain and decreasing future.   However, many have expressed sympathy for the hospitals for increasing their prices in the real world. For these not for profit hospitals have are in a business world and have to survive like the other business organizations too. ARTICLE 2 The article Who says it’s a fair deal(Sweeny, 1999) states that many people have their own biases regarding what is fair and what is an abuse of power or authority. In fact, the Securities and Exchange Commission receive financial statement data that shows the ‘fairness’ of the companies’   presentation of their balance sheet, income statement and the statement of cash flows. However, what may be fair to one party may not be as fair to another party. Meaning, to the hospital increases in health care prices may be fair to the hospitals themselves but could be interpreted by the   lying in and out patients to be too abuse of their pricing powers with the high cost of hospital care nowadays. In reality, these ‘fairness’ opinions are the standard opinions issued by the certified public accountants on clients that they have audited. This means that all the users of the financial statements are being dosed a cotton of assurance by the external auditors that the company is presenting their assets, liabilities, capital revenues and expenses without imposing bias to favor one party to the detriment of the other parties. Definitely, ‘fairness’ should not be construed by the general public as CORRECT or PERFECT   or RIGHT. Admittedly, these ‘fairness’ assurance opinions issued by the external auditors will give a better assurance to the stockholders, the managers, the customers, the companies’ suppliers, the creditors, the companies’ labor unions, the government tax agencies, the government’s regulatory agencies, the employees and the board of directors   a better financial statement to use as reference for their day to day decision making processes. Indeed, an audited financial statement would give better trustworthiness than financial statements that are not audited. For, the shareholders like the stockholders need the financial statements to decide whether to invest more money into the business or hospital or to withdraw their money. For, an investor would definitely not invest his or her hard earned money on a business that does not make the grade. Making the grade means that the revenues of the business or hospital should be more than the costs and expenses of running such outfits. If the reverse happens, then a net loss will surely drive away the current investors as well as the prospectively new investors. The external auditors are COMPULSORILY external certified public accountant who are professionally trained to advise the management of companies on how best to present financial statements ‘fairly’.