Financial Management in Health Services

Although financial management is a highly effective means of implementing key policies in health services, it tends to get little attention, being seen as a necessary but unglamorous area of management. This book shows how health care policies and programmes to promote the health of the public can be supported through financial management techniques. No formal understanding of financial systems is necessary since the book begins with the basics of costings and then goes on to examine accounting systems. The book enables the reader to understand financial performance, examine and confidently discuss financial matters, and apply the concepts in their own organization. This book examines: Management accounting; Financial accounting; and, Financial control and information systems.

Reinhold Gruen is a Senior Honorary Lecturer at the Department of Public Health and Policy of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Anne Howarth is a freelance consultant.