| Course | HD570 Health Education Leadership and Management |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 4 |
| Paper type | Budget reduction memo |
| Length | About 750 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MS in Health Education |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HD570 Unit 4
End Two Things, Keep Everyone: A Unit 4 Budget Reduction Memo Cutting $60,600 From a Health Plan's Health Education Budget
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HD570: Health Education Leadership and Management
Unit 4 Budget Reduction Memo
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Ashcombe Health Plan, its staff, partners and figures are composite; the cutback management and budgeting sources cited are real.
Memo
To: Vice President, Member Services From: Manager, Health Education Re: Fiscal year reduction of $60,600
Decision. I recommend meeting the full reduction by ending two activities: the mailed quarterly newsletter, saving $48,600 in printing and postage, and the open-enrollment community class series, saving $12,000 in materials and room rentals. Total: $60,600. No position is eliminated.
Why not cut every line by seven percent. Across-the-board cuts look fair but weaken everything at once. Seven percent less translation would delay required Spanish notices. Seven percent less texting would reduce postpartum reminders, which affect the plan's quality withhold. Research on organizational decline has long warned that spreading cuts evenly protects no one and leaves an organization weaker in all its activities rather than strong in its most important ones (Levine, 1978).
Why these two. The activity budget showed the newsletter costs about $77,900 a year including staff time, or roughly 66 cents per member, with no evidence that members read it. Return rates on its feedback card have been under one percent for two years. The open-enrollment class series drew 340 attendances last year, many of them repeat attendees, and none of its sessions is tied to a quality measure or a regulatory requirement.
A cut of this size can either weaken every activity a little or end two that matter least, and only the second leaves the department able to do its most important work as well next year as it does now.
What happens to the content. Newsletter articles move to the member website and to two short texts a quarter, using the existing platform at no added cost. Text reminders are widely used in health services and well accepted by many patients (Schwebel & Larimer, 2018). Members without phones or internet can request printed materials by calling member services.
What happens to the class hours. The two health educators who taught classes, about 720 hours a year between them, move those hours to postpartum outreach calls. That outreach directly affects the plan's postpartum measure, where the plan is 6.2 points below the state target.
Who will be unhappy. The member experience committee chair, who considers the newsletter the plan's main voice to members. Marketing, which uses the newsletter for open-enrollment messages and will now need another channel. Two public library branches and one church that host classes and value the partnership. A small group of members who attend classes regularly, some for years. One of the health educators who has taught classes for fourteen years and prefers that work to phone outreach.
How we will respond. I will meet the member experience chair before the decision is announced. Marketing will be offered space in quarterly texts. The three host sites will receive class materials and an offer of one train-the-trainer session so their own staff can continue informal classes. Regular attendees will receive a letter and a personal call. I will meet the affected health educator individually to discuss the new assignment and the support available.
Risks. Members may lose touch with the plan if texts replace print; we will track website visits and text opt-outs for six months. Partners may withdraw from future collaborations; I will report on relationships at the six-month review.
Review. At six months I will report savings achieved, postpartum outreach hours delivered and any complaints received.
Alternatives considered. I also considered reducing translation services, which would save more but put the plan at risk of noncompliance with required Spanish materials, and leaving the open educator line unfilled for a further year, which would save salary but deepen the Spanish-language shortfall. Both were rejected because each would trade a one-time saving for a recurring risk.
Attachment: activity budget table.
Notes on the Memo
The memo puts the decision and total in the first paragraph, because the vice president is choosing among several such memos. It keeps to the length a decision maker will read and attaches the detail. Budget texts describe cutback choices as decisions about priorities rather than accounting exercises (Finkler et al., 2019), and the memo is written that way: it names what ends, what continues and who bears the cost.
References
Finkler, S. A., Smith, D. L., & Calabrese, T. D. (2019). Financial management for public, health, and not-for-profit organizations (6th ed.). CQ Press.
Levine, C. H. (1978). Organizational decline and cutback management. Public Administration Review, 38(4), 316-325. https://doi.org/10.2307/975813
Schwebel, F. J., & Larimer, M. E. (2018). Using text message reminders in health care services: A narrative literature review. Internet Interventions, 13, 82-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2018.06.002
The Purdue Global HD570 Unit 4 instructions
The fourth unit typically asks students to recommend how to absorb a specific budget reduction and to present the recommendation in memo form. Prompts may ask for the decision, its rationale, the alternatives considered, effects on staff and stakeholders and how the change will be monitored. Put the decision and the total in the first paragraph. Explain why you chose your approach over an across-the-board cut, or why you chose that approach if you did. Price each change. Say what happens to the work and the people affected. Name stakeholders who will object and how you will respond. Keep the memo short, often one to two pages, with any detail in an attachment.
How this HD570 Unit 4 example is built
The memo opens with the decision: end the newsletter, saving $48,600, and the class series, saving $12,000, for exactly $60,600, with no position cut. A paragraph explains why a seven percent cut to every line would weaken translation and texting. The case for these two activities draws on the activity budget and low readership. The highlighted sentence states the principle. The memo describes where newsletter content goes, where class hours go, who will be unhappy and how each will be approached, risks, a six-month review and alternatives considered and rejected. Notes after the memo explain its structure for a reader choosing among several memos.
HD570 Unit 4 rubric: what earns full points
Reduction memos are usually graded on a clear decision, sound rationale, accurate figures, attention to people and stakeholders, and brevity. A decision stated first, with the total, earns the most credit. Rationale scores well when it explains why the chosen cuts protect the unit's most important work. Accuracy means the savings add up to the required amount. Attention to people covers staff whose work changes and stakeholders who lose something. Brevity matters because a decision maker may be reading several such memos. Instructors also value a review step and honest risks. A professional tone and accurate references finish the marking. Memos that list alternatives considered and why they were rejected show the choice was deliberate.
Common HD570 Unit 4 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Memos most often fall short by spreading the cut evenly and saying nothing about priorities. Another is a recommendation to cut a position without counting the full cost, including the work that person did. Some hold the decision back until the closing paragraph. Others ignore who will object, which leaves the reader to discover opposition later. Using an activity budget to find what matters least usually points to better choices. If you are facing a specific cut, share your budget lines and activities, and a writer can help you draft a memo that makes the choice clear. Reading the memo as the busiest person on the committee would is a useful final test.
Get an HD570 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
Attach the reduction target your scenario sets, the budget it applies to, and the HD570 Unit 4 prompt with its rubric. The free first custom sample, returned in 24-48h, chooses which activities end instead of shaving every line, prices the rejected alternative, names who will object, and says where freed staff time goes. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More HD570 papers and MS in Health Education samples
- HD570 Unit 1: Discussion Board Post
- HD570 Unit 2: Organizational Placement Analysis
- HD570 Unit 3: Budget Construction
- HD570 Unit 5: Staffing Plan
- HD570 Unit 6: Seminar Reflection
- HD570 Unit 7: Supervision and Performance Case
- HD570 Unit 8: Resource Proposal to Leadership
- HD570 Unit 9: Partnership Negotiation Plan
- HD570 Unit 10: Unit Strategic Plan
- HD560 Unit 4: Validity Threat Analysis
- HD520 Unit 4: Instrument Appraisal
- HD550 Unit 4: Policy Brief
- HD535 Unit 4: Construct Mapping Table
HD570 Unit 4 questions, answered
Is it ever right to cut every line by the same percentage?
Occasionally, when every activity is equally valuable and the cut is small, but a memo making that choice has to show the equality, not assume it. In most HD570 scenarios the point is to demonstrate that you can decide what matters less. An even trim usually reads as avoiding that judgment, so if you recommend one, argue for it explicitly against a targeted alternative.
Should a reduction memo recommend layoffs?
Only if the numbers require it and the memo counts the full cost: severance, lost institutional knowledge, the work that person carried and effects on remaining staff. Many scenarios allow savings through ending activities and redeploying time instead. Where a position must go, name the activity that ends with it, because a position cut while its work continues simply moves the burden to colleagues.
How long should the memo be?
Short enough to be read by someone deciding between several such memos, often one to two pages with an attached table. Put the decision and total in the first paragraph, reasons after it, and detailed arithmetic in the attachment. Check your prompt for a length limit, since some sections set one and graders do notice memos that ignore it.
Where can I find a free HD570 Unit 4 sample paper?
The full Unit 4 budget reduction memo appears on this page, cutting $60,600 by ending a newsletter and a class series without layoffs.
Why not cut every budget line by the same percentage?
Even cuts weaken every activity at once, including the most important ones. Ending the least valuable activities protects the work that matters most.