Introduction
To a great extent, healthcare demands have substantially transformed, causing high demand for medical professionals to seek continued nursing education. The chief financial officer (CFO) must understand that human and other resources, including policies and tuition finances, are required for the nurses to offer exceptional patient care, including quality, safety, and satisfaction. For instance, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) legislation has transitioned healthcare delivery system priority. Instead of concentrating on the number of clients served, such policies compensate medical practitioners based on the quality of services they offer (Grace & Uveges, 2022). The changes in laws have resulted in an increased demand for enhanced skills for nurses. Nevertheless, nursing college tuition fees have escalated, prompting nurses to seek alternative ways to pay for their progressive education. Nursing tuition reimbursement positively impacts medical practitioners’ learning, making them acquire required work skills, thus improving patient quality of care and satisfaction.
The Cost of Nursing Education Initiatives and Return on Investment for the Hospitals
Notably, many medical facilities’ executive teams, including the CFO, pay for nurses via programs, including tuition reimbursement and professional certification. The education reimbursement initiatives do not cover tuition upfront costs compared to federal grants and scholarships and mandate an employee to continue performing duties at the same institution for several years per the signed agreement. In addition, the hospital’s management will incur approximately $40,000 per employee annually, particularly those pursuing a master of nursing degree program (Sarver et al., 2020). At the same time, licensed nurses must acquire various documentation, including critical care registered nurses, progressive nursing care, and adult nurse practitioner certifications. The medical entity’s management pays approximately $10,000 for each worker yearly to acquire them (Sarver et al., 2020). However, such education programs offer vital merits to nurses, such as enhancing their work knowledge and skills, attaining their career goals, and receiving high salary remuneration.
The nursing leader at California Hospital Center advises the CFO that continuing to pay for the workers’ professional certification and tuition reimbursement will increase the hospital’s return on investment contrasted to the program’s costs. The California Hospital Center’s management develops educational initiatives to retain nurses in case of a worker shortage. The nurses with higher education will remain highly updated concerning evidence-grounded practices and modern clinical processes, leading to better patient outcomes, such as satisfaction, thus improving the hospital’s revenue generation. Training and employing new nurses would cause the medical facility to incur approximately $65,000 per employee (Grace & Uveges, 2022). Therefore, providing reimbursed educational initiatives at the California Hospital Center will cost less capital, thus serving as a better return on investment to the facility, aiming to minimize staff turnover. Certification and reimbursement initiatives at the California Hospital Center will create loyal nurses who will promote patient safety and contentment, nursing standards and practice, improve hospital risk management, and increase organizational productivity. Workers with enhanced education will assist in attracting new customers at the California Hospital Center by creating client referrals and a reputation, thus escalating income levels.
The Return on Investment for a Nurse Attending School
To a great extent, nurses serve as caregivers and must be accountable and responsible for client care outcomes. When the California Hospital Center management enrolls a nurse manager to acquire a master’s degree in nursing, they can track whether such medical practitioners become better leaders. The executive team, including the CFO, will engage in multiple daily activities associated with medical care planning, quality assurance and improvement, objective setting, and budgeting to track a particular nurse manager’s leadership qualities. Notably, one of the ways to assist in escalating the number of registered nurses with the capability to provide adequate guidance and serve as mentors is tuition reimbursement (Nyholm et al., 2018). In addition, the nurse managers as leaders will be required to possess skills to oversee subordinates’ productivity reports and worker assignments while advancing their career opportunities and professional growth. Nevertheless, nurse managers must remain honest and available while undertaking their duties and provide advice and guidance to the patients and the hospital executive team.
Notably, the nurse leader’s accomplishment record will be pinpointed by the hospital’s management if they can motivate colleagues, design and implement policies, and spearhead the California Hospital Center transformation. The executive team will track the medical practitioner’s performance regarding the passed courses contrasted with initialing results before enrollment, which will help in giving insights into initiatives enhancement and effectiveness of the hospital’s management. The highly learned nurses will have the skills and experience to handle regulatory compliance, oversee quality and embrace fiscal measures. As leaders, nurse managers must earn respect from other subordinates, indicating that they have acquired extensive skills from the tuition reimbursement and professionalism certification educational programs (Morrow et al., 2018). Therefore, such nurses will be monitored by the hospital’s management to determine whether they are passionate regarding their responsibilities and how they work towards inspiring other staff members. As a leader at California Hospital Center, a nurse manager must promote and embed a culture of controlling and reinforcing moral and sustainable care for the clients.
Cost of Education Versus Merits to the Hospital
The argument concerning the cost of education offered at many hospitals is that it can result in increased expenditures, making the management incapable of paying the staff and operating the medical facility. However, as a nurse leader, my position is that even though the cost of education can be high, it is crucial to limit its investment instead of altogether abolishing payment to such initiatives. To a great extent, every dollar spent on educating a nurse will generate approximately 2 dollars of cost savings by talent management and retention and will help reduce worker shortage, thus improving the delivery of patient care services (Nyholm et al., 2018). Notably, investment in nursing education programs offers several benefits to organizations. The nurses can acquire much-needed skills and offer enhanced services, attracting more clients and thus improving revenue generation. In addition, supporting talented people with inadequate finances to further their education makes them loyal to the hospital, thus enhancing its productivity and performance.
Recommendations to Chief Financial Officer in Fiscal Terms
As a nurse leader, there are several suggestions I will recommend to the CFO to ensure that the hospital does not lose multiple benefits by stopping the payment of nursing education programs for its employees. Firstly, the CFO will be required to ensure that nurses fully comprehend the educational policy by providing the collateral materials to young employees who are not accustomed to insurance grievances and monetary institutions. Secondly, the CFO must motivate California Hospital Center workers to share the essentiality of continued education with their colleagues and take advantage of the reimbursement benefits package (Grace & Uveges, 2022). Lastly, I recommend that the CFO limit tuition and certification expenditures to short-term workers and pinpoint those with higher prospects to merit the firm.
Conclusion
The changes in regulations, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA), have resulted in an escalated demand for enhanced skills for nurses. The tuition reimbursement and reimbursement initiatives at the California Hospital Center will create loyal workers to facilitate client safety and satisfaction, increase organizational performance, and improve hospital risk management. The highly educated nurses will have the skills and experience to handle regulatory compliance, oversee quality and embrace fiscal measures.
References
Grace, P. J., & Uveges, M. K. (2022). Nursing ethics and professional responsibility in advanced practice (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Morrow, E., Call, M., Marcus, R., & Locke, A. (2018). Focus on the quadruple aim: Development of a resiliency center to promote faculty and staff wellness initiatives. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 44(5), 293-298. Web.
Nyholm, L., Salmela, S., Nyström, L., & Koskinen, C. (2018). Sustainability in care through an ethical practice model. Nursing Ethics, 25(2), 264-272. Web.
Sarver, W. L., Seabold, K., & Kline, M. (2020). Building a foundation of evidence to support nurses returning to school: The role of empowerment. Nursing Education Perspectives, 41(5), 285-290. Web.