The new healthcare audit guide. Its impact on hospitals and hospital reporting

Extensive changes in the healthcare environment prompted the AICPA to issue a revised guide to auditing and accounting for healthcare entities. This guide's revisions brought significant changes to how healthcare organizations report financial items regarding revenue, expenses, bad debt, and charity care. This article studies how providers have implemented the required reporting changes and attempts to gauge the effects of this implementation on provider business-office procedures, internal financial reporting, and costs.