For the Mid-Term Project in this course, we are using the financial statements of large publicly traded health care organizations. Publicly traded corporations are required to file their financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission and to make them generally available to potential investor. Yes, these are for-profit organizations. There are a great many non-profit healthcare and hospital organizations in the world as well, but it can be a challenge finding financial information that is not blended into another organization, such as some university hospitals. So, for that reason, we use companies like these for the project. This for-profit nature has often been a surprise for students in this course, as most people tend to imagine a nonprofit organization.

1) What are some pros and cons between these two formats (for-profit vs. non-profit) in your opinion? Make sure to weigh both sides.

2) What are some potential issues you could see arising from such a structure?

3) Which do you feel is a better format for these organizations?