You want me to write a business plan? Capital budgeting fundamentals for the plastic surgeon

摘要

As we enter the new era of medicine in which cost becomes as important as outcomes, clinicians struggling to treat patients frequently find themselves in uncharted territory. Gone are the days in which a new technology or treatment will be embraced by hospital administrators simply because a surgeon makes a cogent argument that it will raise the quality of care delivered at the institution. Administrators want to know how much the intervention will cost, whether it is revenue positive or, at the very least, revenue neutral, and what the long-term implications will be on the global budget. Think of administrators as investors: they want to know if there is value in the investment. The yearly process of allocating funds in the hospital falls under the umbrella of capital budgeting. Regardless of whether we agree with the direction of things, there is certain advantage to being able to 'talk the talk'. Understanding the calculations behind capital budgeting enables a clinician to do just that.