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Assignment questions
Healthcare administrationCourseworkHealth information management

HIM 305 capstone guide: budget tabs, CBA questions, RFP

Four deliverables from one Coppin State scenario: a three-tab Excel operating budget for the HIM department with prescribed rates and AHIMA line items, Word answers to the capital-budget questions, an RFP for outsourced transcription and coding, and a defense of the HIM project against two rivals.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 11, 2026

01

Which of the three capital projects fits the year's assumptions?

The capstone is four deliverables wearing one scenario, and separating them first prevents the common failure of answering some in prose and forgetting the rest: a three-tab Excel operating budget (salaries yearly, monthly departmental expenses, annual budget), Word-document responses to the capital-budget questions, a Request for Proposal for the transcription and coding services the HIM department wants to outsource, and — inside the questions — a political task, justifying your own department's project against two rivals. The budget's inputs are half prescribed and half researched: the directions fix the escalators (a maximum 5 percent salary increase, 7 percent on supplies, 5 percent elsewhere) and the internal line items (HIP-week luncheon at twelve employees times ten dollars, forty-five dollars per day food allowance, at least ten CEUs per coder), while the AHIMA items — membership dues for the director and every credentialed employee, plus the director's National Convention travel, registration and hotel — must be looked up at current rates, which is the assignment's research-skills check hiding inside a spreadsheet.

The capital-budget questions run on the scenario's three competing projects — the maternity wing's women's-center renovation, cardiology's catheterization lab bet on a newly retired cardiologist, and HIM's own outsourced-transcription-plus-web-coding move requiring an EHR — and the questions are sequenced from analysis to advocacy: what a cost-benefit analysis should consider for each project; whether an RFI, RFP or RFQ is the right instrument at this stage (explain, not just choose — the answer turns on how well-specified the need already is); which single project would likely win approval and why; and how the HIM director would present the department's project most favorably. Answer the approval question with the administration's own stated assumptions — constant revenue, no anticipated capital projects, a Joint Commission visit coming — because the scenario's financial-assumptions paragraph is the scoring key for which project fits the year — read it twice before answering anything.

The RFP is the deliverable with an external genre to honor: real RFPs carry background, scope of services, technical and interface requirements, vendor qualifications, pricing structure, evaluation criteria and a response timeline, and the directions explicitly tell you to research samples — the health-informatics literature on designing RFPs for clinical systems shows the structure at working depth. Write the transcription-and-coding scope from the scenario's specifics: current in-house transcription with overflow outsourced, the move to web-based coding with telecommuting coders, and the EHR dependency. A sourcing note: the record circulated with a full third-party cost-benefit-analysis explainer article pasted after the questions; it is excluded from the brief above, though its presence tells you the instructor expects CBA vocabulary — costs listed, benefits valued honestly, payback time computed — in the questions' answers, applied project by project rather than recited as a definition.

Likely learning objectives

Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.

  • 01
    Build a three-tab HIM operating budget applying the prescribed escalators and researched AHIMA dues and convention costs.
  • 02
    Run cost-benefit considerations across the scenario's three competing capital projects.
  • 03
    Choose and defend the right procurement instrument — RFI, RFP or RFQ — for the transcription-and-coding decision's stage.
  • 04
    Argue project approval from the administration's stated financial assumptions rather than department preference.
  • 05
    Draft an RFP with genre-correct sections scoped to the scenario's transcription, coding and EHR specifics.
Assignment instructionsQuoted verbatim

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Capstone Assignment Directions Capstone Assignment- HIM 305Capstone Assignment Directions Capstone Assignment- HIM 305 Capstone Assignment Directions Capstone Assignment- HIM 305 Thoroughly review capstone scenario to complete this assignment. Submit an operating budget for HIM department. Respond to the questions for the capital budget scenario in a Word document. Write a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the transcription and coding service referenced in the scenario conduct research for samples of request for proposals to assist with this task. Complete the Excel budget spreadsheets. There will be three tabs- Tab One- lists employee salaries of department employees (yearly). Tab Two-departmental monthly expenses. Tab Three- annual budget for department. Information for calculating the budget: Use current dues for AHIMA (refer to AHIMA website for information). Dues should be calculated for the Director and all credentialed employees in the department. Director needs to budget to attend AHIMA National Convention. Find the budget information on the AHIMA website. Budget for transportation, registration and hotel. There is $45 a day allowed by organization for food. Budget for luncheon for the HIP week- 12 employees at $10 per employee. You must budget for employee education for CEU to maintain professional credentials. Calculate at least 10 CEU per year per coder to allow new information on coding updates to be obtained. Refer to sample budget sheets for other information you may need. Project a maximum 5% salary increase. Project an increase in supplies of 7%. Project a 5% increase in all other areas, except those discussed in the scenario. HIM305 Administration Capstone Assignment Capstone Case Study Capstone Scenario- HIM 305 Coppin State Regional Health Center is a 270-bed, not-for-profit community hospital. Its largest percentage of patients consists of mothers and newborns, followed by a variety of cardiovascular-related admissions. It has an emergency department staffed by hospital employees. Coppin State Regional Health Center’s fiscal year follows the calendar year, ending December 31. In August, Coppin State Regional Health Center began its year-end budget process by establishing its financial assumptions for the following two years. Administration distributed operational and capital budget compilation packages to department managers for completion and return by September 30. Financial Assumptions: Coppin State Regional Health Center Administration assumed that revenue would remain constant, that it would continue its existing contracts with payers, that its Medicare population percentage would not change, and that no major infrastructure maintenance would be required in the upcoming fiscal year. No major capital projects were anticipated. In its operational budget, administration plans to include resources for a Joint Commission steering committee and related activities to prepare for the anticipated accreditation visit in the subsequent year. Coppin State Regional Health Center does not have a large marketing department. It has one marketing professional on staff whose responsibilities include the development and publishing of brochures and coordination of patient satisfaction surveys, which are compiled and analyzed by an outside vendor. In the past two years, there has been a slight, but continuing, decline in patient satisfaction among maternity patients. Suggestions for improvement have varied, but common complaints center on the lack of soothing ambiance in labor and delivery and the hospital policy prohibiting overnight visitors. The maternity and newborn departments have been very concerned about declining patient satisfaction. They are worried that the current year’s slight decline in maternity admissions is the result of that dissatisfaction and that patients are traveling a little further to give birth at a neighboring medical center, at which some of their physicians also have privileges. The departments would like to renovate the maternity and newborn wing, forming a women’s center with increased emphasis on wellness and ancillary services. This would be a two-year capital project that would require marketing support and some minor disruption of services during construction. The cardiology department staff is very excited. They have just learned that a well-respected cardiologist has retired to the area and is exploring the idea of opening a small consulting practice. The cardiologist has not yet applied for privileges at any area hospitals, but it is known that she is used to working in a facility with its own cardiac catheterization lab. Because the current chief of the medical staff at Coppin State Regional Health Center is a personal friend of the cardiologist, the cardiology department believes that she could be lured on staff if the hospital had its own lab. Based on the volume of patients that Coppin State Regional Health Center currently sends out to another facility for cardiac catheterization, the cardiology department believes that patient care would be facilitated by the expansion and that the increased revenue would help justify the cost. The HIM department has recently lost several employees to retirement and promotions with the facility. It is currently down two coders and a file clerk, and has reduced its weekend coverage to one person, day shift only. Transcription is handled largely by the department, with an outside service processing any overflow. The HIM department would like to outsource all of its transcription and move to a Web-based coding system that would allow the coders to telecommute. These changes would also require the implementation of an Electronic Record System (EHR). HIM305 Administration Capstone Assignment Capstone Case Study Capstone Scenario- HIM 305 Coppin State Regional Health Center is a 270-bed, not-for-profit community hospital. Its largest percentage of patients consists of mothers and newborns, followed by a variety of cardiovascular-related admissions. It has an emergency department staffed by hospital employees. Coppin State Regional Health Center’s fiscal year follows the calendar year, ending December 31. In August, Coppin State Regional Health Center began its year-end budget process by establishing its financial assumptions for the following two years. Administration distributed operational and capital budget compilation packages to department managers for completion and return by September 30. Financial Assumptions: Coppin State Regional Health Center Administration assumed that revenue would remain constant, that it would continue its existing contracts with payers, that its Medicare population percentage would not change, and that no major infrastructure maintenance would be required in the upcoming fiscal year. No major capital projects were anticipated. In its operational budget, administration plans to include resources for a Joint Commission steering committee and related activities to prepare for the anticipated accreditation visit in the subsequent year. Coppin State Regional Health Center does not have a large marketing department. It has one marketing professional on staff whose responsibilities include the development and publishing of brochures and coordination of patient satisfaction surveys, which are compiled and analyzed by an outside vendor. In the past two years, there has been a slight, but continuing, decline in patient satisfaction among maternity patients. Suggestions for improvement have varied, but common complaints center on the lack of soothing ambiance in labor and delivery and the hospital policy prohibiting overnight visitors. The maternity and newborn departments have been very concerned about declining patient satisfaction. They are worried that the current year’s slight decline in maternity admissions is the result of that dissatisfaction and that patients are traveling a little further to give birth at a neighboring medical center, at which some of their physicians also have privileges. The departments would like to renovate the maternity and newborn wing, forming a women’s center with increased emphasis on wellness and ancillary services. This would be a two-year capital project that would require marketing support and some minor disruption of services during construction. The cardiology department staff is very excited. They have just learned that a well-respected cardiologist has retired to the area and is exploring the idea of opening a small consulting practice. The cardiologist has not yet applied for privileges at any area hospitals, but it is known that she is used to working in a facility with its own cardiac catheterization lab. Because the current chief of the medical staff at Coppin State Regional Health Center is a personal friend of the cardiologist, the cardiology department believes that she could be lured on staff if the hospital had its own lab. Based on the volume of patients that Coppin State Regional Health Center currently sends out to another facility for cardiac catheterization, the cardiology department believes that patient care would be facilitated by the expansion and that the increased revenue would help justify the cost. The HIM department has recently lost several employees to retirement and promotions with the facility. It is currently down two coders and a file clerk, and has reduced its weekend coverage to one person, day shift only. Transcription is handled largely by the department, with an outside service processing any overflow. The HIM department would like to outsource all of its transcription and move to a Web-based coding system that would allow the coders to telecommute. These changes would also require the implementation of an Electronic Record System (EHR). HIM305 Administration Capstone Assignment All three departments submitted capital budget requests for the projects described.Budget Considerations (to be submitted in a Word document with spreadsheets): What things should be considered in conducting a cost-benefit analysis on each project? At this point in your decision making which request is most appropriate? Request for Information, Request for Proposal or Request for a Quote? Explain your answer. Develop a request for proposal to send to the transcription and coding services. If the hospital can only approve one of the proposed projects, which do you think has the best chance of being approved? Why? If you were the director of the HIM department, how would you justify your department’s project so that it is presented most favorably? What are the benefits to selecting this project? HIM305 Administration Capstone Assignment
02

Turn the brief into deliverables

  1. 01
    Excel budget with three tabs: yearly employee salaries, monthly departmental expenses, annual department budget.
  2. 02
    Word-document responses to the capital-budget scenario questions, including the RFI/RFP/RFQ choice explained and the approval-and-advocacy answers.
  3. 03
    A Request for Proposal for the transcription and coding service, informed by researched sample RFPs.
  4. 04
    AHIMA-derived line items at current rates: dues for director and credentialed staff, convention travel, registration, hotel, and the prescribed food allowance.
03

How do the budget tabs, questions and RFP divide the work?

01

The budget, tab by tab

Build salaries (yearly), monthly expenses, and the annual budget, applying the fixed escalators and inserting the researched AHIMA and prescribed internal line items.

02

CBA across three projects

Answer what a cost-benefit analysis should consider for the women's center, the cath lab, and the HIM outsourcing move — costs, benefit values, payback horizons, and intangibles honestly flagged.

03

The instrument question

Choose between RFI, RFP and RFQ for the transcription-and-coding need and explain the choice by how specified the requirement already is.

04

Approval and advocacy

Argue which single project survives the administration's stated assumptions, then make the HIM director's best case: benefits, Joint Commission fit, telecommuting resilience, coding accuracy.

05

The RFP itself

Draft the RFP with background, scope from the scenario's specifics, technical and interface requirements including the EHR dependency, vendor qualifications, pricing, evaluation criteria and timeline.

04

Where do AHIMA rates and RFP structure get researched?

Recommended databases

  • AHIMA website (current dues and convention costs)
  • PMC (RFP design and capital budgeting literature)
  • Sample RFP repositories

Search sequence

  1. 1.
    Look up current AHIMA membership dues and National Convention registration, travel and hotel figures before building the budget tabs.
  2. 2.
    Read an RFP-design article from the health-informatics literature for the section structure and requirement-writing style.
  3. 3.
    Review a capital-budgeting fundamentals source so the CBA answers use payback and benefit-valuation language correctly.
  4. 4.
    Collect one or two sample RFPs, as the directions instruct, before drafting yours.
05

Reference shortlist

These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.

Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.

  1. 01

    Designing a request for proposal for picture archiving and communication system

    PMC / National Library of Medicine · 2012

    A worked RFP design for a clinical system — the section structure and requirement-writing depth the directions' research-samples instruction points at.

  2. 02

    You want me to write a business plan? Capital budgeting fundamentals for the plastic surgeon

    PMC / National Library of Medicine · 2013

    Capital-budgeting fundamentals in a clinical setting — payback, benefit valuation and project justification, the vocabulary the capital-budget questions grade.

  3. 03

    Health impact assessment and cost‒benefit analysis: Exploring complementarities of methods to assess the impacts of regulation

    PMC / National Library of Medicine · 2025

    CBA's method and its honest limits — including the benefit-valuation subjectivity the course's own excluded reading emphasizes — for the considerations question.

06

Review before submission

Common mistakes

  • Answering the questions and forgetting the artifacts — the budget tabs and the RFP are deliverables, not illustrations.
  • Inventing AHIMA dues and convention costs instead of looking up current rates, which is the embedded research check.
  • Applying the escalators unevenly; the directions fix 5 percent salaries, 7 percent supplies, 5 percent elsewhere except scenario-specified items.
  • Choosing RFP by reflex without explaining why the need's specification stage makes it the right instrument over RFI or RFQ.
  • Arguing project approval from departmental enthusiasm when the scenario's financial assumptions paragraph decides it.
  • Writing the RFP as a letter instead of the genre: scope, requirements, vendor qualifications, evaluation criteria, timeline.

Submission checklist

  • Three Excel tabs complete and internally consistent (salaries roll into the annual budget).
  • All prescribed line items present: CEUs per coder, HIP-week luncheon, food allowance, convention costs, dues for every credentialed employee.
  • Every capital-budget question answered, with the instrument choice explained.
  • Approval and advocacy answers argued from the scenario's stated assumptions.
  • RFP scoped to the scenario's transcription/coding/EHR specifics with genre-correct sections.

Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.

Written by

Aaron Bishop

MA, Education

assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines

Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.

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PhD, Rhetoric & Composition

Argumentation and thesis development

Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.

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