| Course | HLTH 4000 Introduction to Healthcare Management |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 6 |
| Paper type | Budget note memo |
| Length | About 800 words, 4 pages |
| Format | Memo, APA 7 citations |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | BS in Healthcare Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HLTH 4000 Week 6
Memorandum
To: Practice Manager
From: Patient Access Supervisor
Date: Month Day, Year
Re: Recommend converting routine overtime into a 0.5 FTE patient access representative; net cost about $3,700 a year more than current overtime spending, with lower turnover risk
The Decision
Over the past six months, the patient access team has averaged 12 hours of overtime a week, mostly to cover the morning peak between 7:30 and 9:30 and the lunch period when representatives take breaks. Overtime has become routine rather than occasional. I am asking whether to keep paying for that coverage as overtime or to add a half-time position, 20 hours a week, scheduled across the morning peak and lunch. This note sets out the cost of each choice in the categories our clinic's budget uses, compares them and recommends one. All dollar amounts are illustrative, based on the composite structure of our team, and use a base wage of $20 an hour.
Cost of Continuing Overtime
Salaries and wages, overtime line. Hourly staff who are not exempt must, under federal wage rules, receive time and a half once they pass 40 hours in a week (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.), so overtime costs $30 an hour. At 12 hours a week for 52 weeks, that is $18,720 a year.
Benefits. Overtime does not increase benefit costs such as health insurance, but employer payroll taxes apply. At an illustrative 7.65% for Social Security and Medicare, that adds about $1,430, for a total of about $20,150.
Costs that do not show in the budget. Routine overtime falls mostly on three representatives who live close to the clinic. Two of them have told me they are tired of early mornings. If either left, replacing them would cost recruiting time, training time and several weeks of reduced productivity, costs that never appear on the overtime line but are real.
Cost of a Half-Time Position
Salaries and wages, regular line. 20 hours a week at $20 an hour for 52 weeks is $20,800.
Benefits. Under the clinic's policy, employees working 20 or more hours receive prorated paid time off but not health insurance. Payroll taxes at 7.65% add about $1,590, and prorated paid time off, which requires coverage, adds an illustrative $800 in backfill. Total benefits and related costs: about $2,390.
One-time costs. Recruiting and two weeks of training, mostly the lead representative's time, at an illustrative $1,600.
Total first-year cost: about $24,790. Ongoing annual cost after the first year: about $23,190.
Residual overtime. A half-time position would not end all overtime; absences would still occur. I estimate overtime would fall from 12 hours to about 2 hours a week, costing about $3,360 a year including payroll taxes, which offsets part of the difference.
Comparison and Recommendation
Continuing overtime costs about $20,150 a year. The half-time position costs about $23,190 a year in recurring costs, plus about $3,360 in residual overtime, or about $26,550, roughly $6,400 more than current overtime spending in a typical year. After subtracting the $2,700 that I estimate we spend each year on extra temporary help when an overtime-weary representative calls out, the net difference falls to about $3,700 a year. The first year is about $1,600 higher because of recruiting and training.
I recommend the half-time position. The financial difference is modest, and it buys three things overtime cannot: predictable coverage at the peaks, relief for the three representatives carrying the overtime and a trained person who can fill in when others take leave. Our management text notes that labor is the largest controllable cost in most health care settings and that decisions about it should weigh service and retention alongside direct cost (Buchbinder et al., 2021). If the practice manager prefers to test the idea first, the position could be posted as a six-month temporary role and evaluated against the overtime and abandonment reports.
What Would Change the Recommendation
Two facts would change this recommendation. If the morning peak shrank, for example because more patients began scheduling online, the half-time position would cover hours that no longer need covering, and occasional overtime would be cheaper. If the clinic's policy changed so that 20-hour employees became eligible for health insurance, the position's benefit cost would rise sharply and the comparison would need to be redone. Neither change is planned, but both are possible within a year, which is one reason I suggest a six-month review rather than a permanent decision now.
How We Would Know It Worked
After six months, I would report three numbers: weekly overtime hours, expected to fall from 12 to about 2; the percentage of calls abandoned during the morning peak, which last quarter averaged 9%; and whether any of the three representatives carrying overtime has left. If overtime does not fall or abandonment does not improve, the position should be reconsidered. Clear results, reported regularly, are also useful to the team, since feedback about the effect of their work is part of what keeps staff engaged (Hackman & Oldham, 1976).
References
Buchbinder, S. B., Shanks, N. H., & Kite, B. J. (Eds.). (2021). Introduction to health care management (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16(2), 250-279. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-5073(76)90016-7
U.S. Department of Labor. (n.d.). Overtime pay. Wage and Hour Division. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime
HLTH 4000 Week 6 instructions, in plain terms
A budget note at this point usually asks you to cost one management decision and recommend a choice. State the decision in a single paragraph with the evidence that prompted it. Cost each alternative in the categories your organization's budget uses, such as salaries, overtime, benefits and one-time costs, with every figure labeled as illustrative or real. Apply legal requirements correctly, such as overtime rates. Separate recurring from one-time costs. Name costs that do not appear in the budget, such as turnover, without inventing numbers for them. Compare the totals plainly and recommend, explaining what the extra money buys. State what would change your recommendation and how you will know whether it worked.
How the HLTH 4000 Week 6 example is put together
The subject line states the recommendation and net cost. The decision section describes 12 weekly overtime hours at the morning peak and lunch. The overtime section costs $18,720 plus payroll taxes, citing the federal overtime rule, and names turnover risk among three tired representatives. The half-time section costs wages, taxes, prorated leave backfill, one-time recruiting and residual overtime. The comparison section reaches about $6,400 more, reduced to about $3,700 after temporary-help savings, and recommends the position, citing Buchbinder and colleagues. A section names two facts that would reverse the choice. The final section sets overtime, abandonment and retention measures, citing Hackman and Oldham.
Where the marks sit in the HLTH 4000 Week 6 rubric
Graders look for transparent costing in the budget's own categories, with every assumption visible. Federal overtime rules and payroll taxes should be applied correctly, and one-time costs should not be mixed with recurring ones. Naming costs that never appear on a budget line, such as turnover, without inventing figures for them, shows honest reasoning. The comparison should state the net difference plainly and explain what the extra spending buys. Conditions that would reverse the recommendation, and measures to check it later, show the decision is held for reasons. A clear subject line, memo format and references where they support a point round out the grade. Rounding should be consistent throughout.
HLTH 4000 Week 6 help from the desk
Budget notes often compare wage costs alone and forget payroll taxes, benefits or one-time costs. Others count savings they hope for without saying where the number comes from. Some recommend the cheaper option without asking what it costs in service or staff. Build both cost columns with the same assumptions. Separate one-time costs. List the costs that do not appear in the budget. Then say what the difference buys. A writer from our team can prepare a budget note for this course that costs a management decision clearly and recommends a choice. Ask a colleague to check your arithmetic before the memo goes out. Round figures consistently and label them illustrative unless they come from the budget itself.
Get a HLTH 4000 Week 6 example written to your instructions
Send the week 6 scenario with whatever figures it supplies, along with the prompt and rubric, and the desk returns the note with its classification, working, variance and recommendation assembled. First custom sample: free, and back with you in 24-48h. Costs and rates come from your scenario or from a cited published source, never from an estimate produced here.
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HLTH 4000 Week 6 questions, answered
Where can I find a free HLTH 4000 Week 6 sample paper?
The budget note comparing overtime with a half-time position is printed on this page in full and free to read.
What does routine overtime cost in the HLTH 4000 Week 6 note?
About $20,150 a year for 12 hours a week at time and a half, including employer payroll taxes.
What does the half-time position cost?
About $23,190 a year in recurring costs plus about $3,360 in residual overtime, with about $1,600 in first-year recruiting and training.
Why recommend the more expensive option?
The net difference is about $3,700 a year, and it buys predictable peak coverage, relief for tired staff and lower turnover risk.
What would change the recommendation?
A shrinking morning peak or a policy change making 20-hour employees eligible for health insurance.