Answer

305 Discussion Board: Budgeting and Team Work

Budgeting refers to the process of creating a spending plan for your money. The future is considered uncertain due to various changes in the economy such as inflation, devaluation, tax rates and depreciation (Kerzner, 2013). However, budgeting is always recommended in all business organizations for the achievements of goals and objectives effectively. Even so, the question as to why we should budget while we know of future uncertainty remains.

A budget refers to a plan to ensure enough finances are allocated for the anticipated future projects (Kerzner, 2013). While the future is always uncertain, there is a need for business organizations to control their finances and make appropriate decisions to avoid deficits that could otherwise affect the outcomes of their projects. Budgeting is, therefore, important for:

Strategic Financial Planning

Project management entails overseeing and ensuring projects are completed within the stipulated time and budget. Various factors such as motivation are, however, needed for increased performance. Therefore, according to Bryson (2016) creating a budget is important in determining the amount of money required to enhance performance for positive outcomes.

Appropriate Allocation of Resources

Many resources are needed for the effective completion of projects. However, project finances are always limited, depending on the organization’s source of revenue (Bryson, 2017). While any given business organization may desire to attain all the best resources for project execution, planning for appropriate project allocation is always important to ensure the project is appropriately equipped with the necessary resources.

Effective Decision-Making Process

The decision-making process is a significant aspect of project management. Precisely, appropriate decisions ensure positive project outcomes and vice versa. According to Kerzner, (2013), budgeting enhances the decision-making process through a comparison of the available resources with the available finances.

Measuring Performance

Comparing performance is important in ensuring business growth (Bryson, 2017). Creating a budget, therefore, enables an organization to compare its current performance with the previous years, or with other companies, thus identifying its strengths or weaknesses towards growth.

Health Information Management

Health information management (HIM) refers to the process of acquiring and analyzing patient medical information for quality patient care (Davis & LaCour, 2016). Henry Fayol identifies the division of work, unity of command and esprit de corps among the many principles of management (Grebner & Mattingly, 2017). Therefore, organizations should employ well-defined organizational structures to ensure quality performance for positive outcomes. Consequently, HIM department staff should be shaped into a true team, to enhance the HIM process, for quality patient care.

Sharing information most effectively and confidentially among staff is vital in any healthcare organization. Health Information Management professionals, in any healthcare organization work in their areas of expertise, such as releasing information and coding (Davis & LaCour, 2016). Since coding and sharing of patient information is inseparable, HIM staff should be integrated to work as a team, to enhance the patient experience, through quality care. For instance, the coding team in a HIM department deals with recording organizational charts for final billing (Davis & LaCour, 2016). While the accuracy and timeliness of such coding are important for the organizations, all HIM department employees, including the coding team, must work together, for efficiency and accuracy. Working as a team in a HIM is therefore important in ensuring timely execution of the HIM practice.

While working as a team is fundamental in a HIM, confidentiality and security make it difficult to achieve team effectiveness in the department. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, advocates for confidentiality of patient health records (Weaver et al., 2016). Working as a team in the HIM is thus difficult due to patient confidentiality.