ABSTRACT
Anticipating a change in the way Medicare pays for capital costs, healthcare organizations should evaluate their capital expenditure plans. To maximize payments under the current system, they should create an equipment acquisition plan that brings the greatest capital costs during the equipment's early life. They then should determine a cost allocation method that assigns the greatest allowable capital costs to Medicare.
Subject(s)
Capital Expenditures/economics , Economics/economics , Equipment and Supplies, Hospital/economics , Financial Management, Hospital/methods , Medicare , Prospective Payment System , Financial Management , Leasing, Property/economics , United StatesABSTRACT
The author explores the subject of capital needs in university biomedical research. Three main topics are covered: the universities' need for capital (which is great and growing fast); the sources of capital for universities (private donations, state and federal governments, institutional funds, and debt); and a review of federal policy, to determine whether the federal government is part of the problem of meeting universities' capital needs or part of the solution. For each topic, important assumptions, questions, and possible future trends and dangers are reviewed. The author calls for the university research community to face the difficult issues he has raised and consolidate their thinking in order to avoid potential dangers and to ensure the health of university science into the 21st century.
