Discussion Guidelines

Initial Post

• Define price elasticity of demand.
• Explain what it means if a product is price elastic or price inelastic.
• Next, give an example of some medical treatment, drug, or device that is price elastic and an example that is price inelastic.

Discussion Guidelines

Initial Post

• Differentiate between demand and quantity demand.
• List the factors from your text that will change demand for a product.
• Describe how a specific medical treatment, drug, or device would be affected by each factor.

Response Post(s)

As follow up, post a response to at least two of your peers’ posts and explain how the factors from the text may or may not change (increase or decrease) the demand for the product example your peer provided. Feel free to cite additional factors from other sources in your follow up.

Use the Assignment 2.1 Document (Word) (Links to an external site.) to

1. Identify the fixed inputs for the clinic.
2. Complete a chart representing the number of nurses, number of patient visits associated the number of nurses available, and the MPL of each additional nurse hired.
3. Describe the relationship between the number of nurses hired and clinic visits (output).
4. Identify the number of nurses where the point of diminishing returns occurs.
5. Use the data to provide recommendations to the clinic in terms of the productivity of the nurses hired and how this can be increased.

Submission

Submit your file using the following naming convention: Last name_First name_Assignment_2.1.

Submit your assignment and review full grading criteria on the Assignment 2.1: Maximizing Productivity page.

Assignment 2.2: Production Costs

Complete the following:

1. Define the terms total fixed costs, total variable costs, and total costs.
2. State the formulas for AFC, AVC, ATC, and MC.
3. Fill in the values of the following table:

4. List examples of the factors that would cause cost for the clinic to increase or decrease.
5. Use Excel to generate a graph of the cost curves for TFC, TVC, and TC. Provide an image of your graph here.

6. Use Excel to generate a separate graph of the AFC, AVC, ATC, and MC curves. Provide an image of your graph here.

 

Discussion Guidelines

Initial Post

• Define the terms fixed input, variable input, and production function.
• Provide an example of two fixed inputs and four variable inputs of a medical treatment, medical device, or pharmaceutical.

Response Post(s)

Follow up your initial post by giving examples of possible factors that would shift the production function for at least two of the treatments, devices, or pharmaceuticals provided by your peers.

Submission

Discussion Guidelines

Initial Post

Provide an example of a medical treatment or medical procedure in which an increase in quality also resulted in an increase in cost. Describe how the quality increased and why this resulted in an increase in cost.

Response Post(s)

As follow up, post a response to at least two of your peers. Provide additional reasons as to why an increase in cost resulted from an increase in the product’s quality. Suggest how these changes may impact the end users of the product.

There are two parts to this assignment. Use the Assignment 3.1 Document (Word) (Links to an external site.) to record your responses.

Assignment Guidelines

Part I: Single Investor-Owned Firm

1. Define total revenue (TR), marginal revenue (MR), and the profit-maximizing rule for a single investor-owned firm.
2. Calculate MR, MC, and ATC for Table 3.1.
3. Give the profit-maximizing level of output (Q).

Part II: Tax-Exempt Agency

Now, assume the firm is a tax-exempt agency. One possibility is that tax-exempt agencies maximize output.

1. Define the output-maximization rule.
2. Give the output-maximizing level of output (Q) in Table 3.1.
3. Explain what happens to the supply curve for an output-maximizing firm if it increases the quality of their visits.

Table 3.1

Quantity of Visits (Q)	Total Revenue (TR)	Marginal Revenue (MR)	Total Costs (TC)	Marginal Cost (MC)	Average Total Cost (ATC)
0	0		50
1	200		175
2	400		350
3	600		550
4	800		800
5	1000		1100

Submission

All the files that you upload should be named using the following convention: Last name_First name_Assignment_3.1.

Assignment Guidelines

Give an example of some medical treatment, device, or drug. Explain the market structure of this product in terms of the determinants of market structure described in this lesson. Once you explain the determinants, give your opinion as to whether or not there is market power in this market. Make sure your opinion for market power relates to the determinants of market structure.

Please include at least two citations from reputable sources.

Submission

All the files that you upload should be named using the following Last name_First name_Assignment_4.2.

Discussion Guidelines

Initial Post

1. Provide an example of a medical treatment, device, or drug.
2. Give four examples of factors that will shift your selection’s demand.
3. Provide two examples of factors that will shift your selection’s supply.

Response Post(s)

Respond to at least one of your peers by providing an example of a change in demand or supply of their product that will affect the selection’s equilibrium price (P_e) or equilibrium quantity (Q_e) for their product. Explain how this change in demand or supply will impact the P_e or Q_e.

Introduction

There are two parts in this assignment. You will need to develop one graph in Part I and a series of graphs for Part II.

Part I: Demand and Supply Curves

Table 4.1 represents supply and demand for a piece of medical equipment.

1. On the same graph, show the demand curve and supply curve for this piece of medical equipment.
2. Identify where the market equilibrium is on the graph.
3. State the P_e and Q_e for this piece of medical equipment.

Part II: Changing P_e and Q_e

For this part of the assignment, you do not use the numbers provided for Part I. For each of the following situations, create a graph of equilibrium in a market. Then, graphically show how each curve will shift. Indicate the direction in which each shift will occur. Finally, show how the P_e and Q_e are affected by each situation.

1. A good is a normal good and income increases.
2. Consumers expect the price of a good to be lower in the future.
3. There is a decrease in resource prices.
4. There is a decrease in the number of existing suppliers.

Table 4.1

Price	Quantity Demanded	Quantity Supplied
400	90	10
800	80	20
1200	70	30
1600	60	40
2000	50	50
2400	40	60
2800	30	70
3200	20	80

Submission

All the files that you upload should be named using the following convention: Last name_First name_Assignment_4.1.