Written assignmentHealthcare finance

Healthcare Finance class Essay

One page, a finance audience, and your own state. Those three constraints together decide what goes in and what has to be cut, and most drafts ignore the third.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 25, 2026

Written by

Maren Caldwell

MSN, RN, CNE

Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation

Reviewed by

Dr. Tessa Redmond

DNP, RN, CNE

Evidence-based practice and clinical education

On this page

Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

A finance audience wants the money flow, not the definition

Three constraints in the brief do the work of an outline. One page means everything on it competes for space, so a general definition of an accountable care organisation, which students can find anywhere, is the first thing to cut. A finance class means the audience needs the money: how attribution assigns patients to an ACO, how a benchmark is set, what shared savings and shared losses mean in one-sided and two-sided models, and why quality scores gate the payout. And within your state means naming actual organisations and, where you can find it, actual performance, because a handout about ACOs in general could have been written without opening anything. Those three constraints together are effectively an outline, and following them is most of what the marker is checking. A handout that ignores the state instruction reads as generic no matter how accurate the rest of it is.

Learning objectives are the part students treat as a formality and markers do not, so write them as things a reader will be able to do rather than know: calculate shared savings given a benchmark and actual spend, distinguish one-sided from two-sided risk, explain how attribution differs from enrolment. Then build the page against those objectives and cut anything that does not serve one. The graphics requirement is real and should carry the explanation rather than decorate it, which usually means one diagram of the money flow from benchmark through actual spend to savings or loss, with the quality gate shown as a condition on the payout rather than as a footnote. Keep the voice impersonal as instructed, put the references in footnotes as instructed, and check the text is legible at printed size, since the brief flags that explicitly and it is a cheap mark to lose.

Likely learning objectives

Prioritise content for a one-page constraint by cutting what is generally available.
Write finance-facing content about attribution, benchmarks and shared risk.
State learning objectives as things a reader can do.
Use a diagram to carry an explanation rather than decorate it.

Assignment instructions

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

As a graduate of Herzing University’s Healthcare Management program, you have been asked by a colleague to prepare a student handout for a Healthcare Finance class. The professor has asked you to address Accountable Care Organizations within your state. Students will reference this handout as they study and complete assignments related to ACOs. For this assignment, you will complete the following: Learning objectives outline, 3-5 objectives One-page handout entitled “What is an ACO?” A combination of graphics and text should be used Ensure all text is legible (not too small or placed over a distracting graphic) Professional voice should be used (no “I” statements or personal opinions) Include references in the footnotes section You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Healthcare Finance class Essay Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor. The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. Healthcare Finance class Essay

What the handout assignment requires

01A learning objectives outline of 3-5 objectives.
02A one-page handout entitled What is an ACO?
03A combination of graphics and text.
04Legible text, not too small and not placed over a distracting graphic.
05Professional voice with no first-person statements or personal opinions.
06References in the footnotes section.
07Coverage of Accountable Care Organizations within your state.