Professional Ethics in Health Care

Instructions

HS410M5-5: Integrate personal and professional ethics to achieve organizational goals.

GEL-7.02: Apply ethical reasoning to ethical issues within the field of study.

Introduction:

Establishing good ethical standards is important in healthcare organizations. Health care organizations and facilities must comply with federal and state standards in their treatment of patients and in facility operations. The purpose of this assignment is to assess your understanding and application of personal and professional ethical standards in a health care setting.

Directions:

You are the finance manager in a long-term care facility that is struggling to remain solvent. The facility’s administrator has hired a consultant to work with you to increase Medicaid reimbursement. The consultant recommends that you be more “liberal” in coding the severity of residents’ needs to justify greater reimbursement. The consultant tells you, “everybody does it” and, “it’s an undetectable way to boost revenue.”

You believe this approach is somewhere between inappropriate and illegal. You know the consultant is being paid on a commission and is an old college buddy of the facility administrator. You also recognize that your facility could soon go out of business and leave you without a job.

In a two- to three-page paper, respond to the following:

What are your ethical challenges?

What are your options?

What is your chosen course of action ensuring that it contributes to the organizational mission and values?