Definition of Operating Income
Operating income is a company's benefit received after deducting its operating expenses, which are the costs of running a corporation regularly. By excluding interest and taxes, net income allows investors to distinguish profits for the company's operating output. Non-operating revenue, fees, and interest costs are not included in operating income. Any one-time or one-time-only products, such as money received as part of a court settlement, are also exempt.
Should a Health Care Provider Make a Profit on its Core Business?
The ethical ramifications of health care's increasing commercialization have become a source of contention in the recent few years, especially after different governments' actions to introduce free medical care programs. Those who support the movement toward profit-driven health care argue that the involvement of entrepreneurs and competition in health care delivery would result in a more efficient and productive system (Reiter & Song, 2018). Profit maximization, on the other hand, is opposed to the principles that underpin medical departments. The possibilities for patient coercion and abuse are limitless in a for-profit health care system. Society cannot allow commercial gain to infiltrate too deeply into the practice of medicine, jeopardizing patients' wellbeing and undermining the physician-patient relationship's confidence.
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Additionally, commercialized medicine is argued to be detrimental to society while providing few benefits to the entrepreneurial doctors who seize the growing demand for medical care to make more profit. When profit-oriented healthcare organizations dominate the industry, society will face a severe shortage of unprofitable but essential facilities, such as emergency rooms and surgery services. Moreover, more sophisticated treatment procedures like chemotherapy and MRI become extremely expensive for the average citizen. Limited resources would be squandered on the production and aggressive marketing of good yet unnecessary services such as cosmetic surgery (Frank et al., 2016). Commercialization of medicine would result in the abolition of those morals and values required for a moral society. The majority of non-profit organizations continue to adhere to the ideal of human service.
The situation at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center
The health sector may be a lucrative venture for most individuals, especially due to the high demand for medication globally. However, several organizations like the Canadian Diabetes Association, now known as Diabetes Canada, provides free medical attention to diabetic patients in Canada. At Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Dallas establishes community care clinics to enhance its outreach to vulnerable patients who cannot afford the high cost of medical care. About fifteen full-time physicians attend to these patients in the region, ensuring quality healthcare to all social classes. Physicians who have made it their primary goal to alleviate human misery and restore wellbeing have perpetuated the altruistic ideal. Society cannot allow for-profit enterprise's self-interest to extinguish those strong and perishable values and principles.
References
Frank, J. W., Carey, E., Nolan, C., Kerns, R. D., Sandbrink, F., Gallagher, R., & Ho, P. M. (2019). Increased non-opioid chronic pain treatment in the Veterans Health Administration, 2010–2016. Pain Medicine , 20 (5), 869-877.
Reiter, K. L., & Song, P. H. (2018). Gapenski's Fundamentals of Healthcare Finance . Health Administration Press.
