Assignment: Health Organization Evaluation

Research a health care organization or network that spans several states with in the United States (United Healthcare, Vanguard, Banner Health, etc.). Assess the readiness of the health care organization or network you chose in regard to meeting the health care needs of citizens in the next decade.
Prepare a 1,000-1,250 word paper that presents your assessment and proposes a strategic plan to ensure readiness. Include the following:
1. Describe the health care organization or network.
2. Describe the organization\’s overall readiness based on your findings.
3. Prepare a strategic plan to address issues pertaining to network growth, nurse staffing, resource management, and patient satisfaction.

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4. Identify any current or potential issues within the organizational culture and discuss how these issues may affect aspects of the strategic plan.
5. Propose a theory or model that could be used to support implementation of the strategic plan for this organization. Explain why this theory or model is best.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
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Health Organization Evaluation

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Health organization evaluation is a critical assessment, through thorough processes, of an organization’s aspect to determine whether it meets its objectives. It assesses various areas of the organization and conducts gap analyses to determine where the organization may best benefit from defining, clarifying, training, tightening systems, or setting direction (Egener et al., 2017). This paper seeks to describe a health organization in the U.S, including its overall readiness, and propose a strategic plan to promote readiness.

Health Care Organization Description

Vanguard Health Systems, Inc. is a healthcare system that owns and manages acute care hospitals, outpatient facilities, and associated health plans predominantly located in urban and suburban markets. It currently manages 15 acute care hospitals with more than 4,135 bed-capacity in San Antonio, Texas; Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona; Metropolitan Chicago, Illinois; and Massachusetts (Vanguard Health Systems, 2017). The organization offers health care services, including acute and emergency care, internal medicine, general surgery, cardiology, orthopedics, obstetrics, and neurology services.

Vanguard Inc. has, in the past, concentrated its operations in markets with high population growth and median income above the national average. The organization’s objective is to assist communities in achieving health for life by providing an ideal patient-centered experience in a highly dependable care environment (Vanguard Health Systems, 2017). Vanguard endeavors to strengthen its financial operations to finance more investments in these communities. It has established a corporate values framework comprising safety, respect, excellence, integrity, and accountability to support its mission and the corporate and regional business strategies that will characterize its future success.

Organization’s Overall Readiness

Vanguard, Inc. is adequately prepared to meet the health care needs of its target population in the next decade. The readiness is demonstrated by its hospitals’ operations, management team, health plan operations, information systems, and compliance program. Vanguard provides a full range of acute care services as well as outpatient and ancillary healthcare services, which are vital to meet the needs of its target clients while increasing clientele and increasing care management efficiencies (Vanguard Health Systems, 2017). Vanguard has a senior management team with extensive experience in managing multi-facility hospital networks and plays a major role in the strategic planning for the facilities. It has supported the local management teams in aspects of business office, revenue cycle, legal, clinical efficiency, managed care, physician services, and other administrative functions. Furthermore, Vanguard has established three health plans that help generate a greater volume of patients and help attract quality physicians to the communities the organization serves.

The organization has invested extensively in clinical information technology in cost-effective information systems that meet the needs of the hospital management, medical staff, and nurses. Lastly, Vanguard Inc. has established a company-wide compliance program developed to ensure that the staff maintain high standards of ethics and conduct in the operation of the organization’s business (Vanguard Health Systems, 2017). The program is also designed to implement policies and procedures for all the staff to comply with all laws, regulations, and company policies.

Strategic Plan

A strategic plan communicates an organization’s goals, vision, and strategies to achieve the goals and vision. This section will describe a strategic plan for Vanguard Inc. to address network growth, nurse staffing, resource management, and patient satisfaction.

Network Growth

Vanguard needs to increase its network growth by increasing the volume of patients seeking health services in its hospitals. The strategic plan to promote network growth will include implementing an outpatient growth strategy to improve cost efficiencies across its hospitals (Egener et al., 2017). In addition to the outpatient strategy, the strategic plan will increase the organization’s commitment to improving shareholder value by repositioning the organization to generate higher margins and better cash flow.

Nurse Staffing

Vanguard’s strategic plan on nurse staffing will include offshore outsourcing of nurses as the organization’s turnaround plan. The nursing workforce accounts for 70% of the organization’s costs and is the most significant driver of hospitals’ operating expenses. The offshore plan will increase staffing levels and ensure the delivery of quality nursing care.

Resource Management

Vanguard Inc. is at risk of losing revenue because of a lack of operational structures to direct resource management. The strategic plan for resource management will include developing a framework that will direct financial management and auditing. The framework will guide Vanguard in managing its financial resources and improve service delivery since resources will be readily available.

Patient Satisfaction

Vanguard Inc. has implemented a comprehensive patient satisfaction monitoring program to evaluate its success in providing an ultimate patient-centered experience. The strategic plan to improve patient satisfaction will include a hospitalist model, which entails having hospitalists coordinate patient care between specialist physicians and the nursing staff (Berchuck, 2018). The presence of a strong, reputable group of hospitalists will increase confidence in admitting physicians that patients will receive high-quality, coordinated care while in the hospital (Berchuck, 2018). The hospitalist model will increase patient satisfaction owing to increased specialized physician encounters that patients experience.

Current or Potential Issues within the Organizational Culture

Current issues within Vanguard’s organizational culture include communication flowing only downwards rather than both up and down. The issue may affect the strategic plan on network growth since employees’ opinions at the bottom level need to be considered on how to increase the volume of patients. There is a potential issue of a high nursing turnover, which may affect the strategic plan to improve nurse staffing ratios. A high turnover rate may result in a nursing shortage, reducing the quality and safety of nursing care. Compromised safety and quality of care will ultimately affect the plan on improving patient satisfaction.

Theory or Model That Could Support Implementation of the Strategic Plan

The strategic plan for Vanguard Inc. can be implemented using the Cascade Strategic Planning Model. The model is composed of structure and governance (Wood, 2019). The elements of structure include: Identifying the Vision Statement; Defining the organization values; Identifying the focus areas; Creating the organization’s objectives; Defining the organization KPIs; Specifying the organization projects (Wood, 2019). Elements of governance include Monthly Strategic Updates, Project Updates, and KPI Exceptions. The model’s structural elements guide an organization in planning and implementing a strategic plan and thus will best support Vanguard’s strategic plan implementation. By identifying the vision, Vanguard will determine where it wants to get within a defined period. Besides, defining values will guide the organization in implementing the plan according to its set values.

Conclusion

Vanguard Inc. seeks to change how healthcare is delivered in the communities through its corporate and regional business strategies. Its readiness to achieve its objectives is seen in its hospitals’ operations, management team, health plan operations, information systems, and compliance program. The strategic plan for network growth will be to implement an outpatient growth strategy. Nurse staffing will be increased through offshore outsourcing of nurses. Besides, resource management will be improved by developing a framework to direct financial management and auditing. Patient satisfaction will be enhanced by establishing a hospitalist model, which will increase encounters of patients with specialized physicians.

References

Berchuck, C. A. (2018). New hospitalist model for managing high-cost, high-need patients. Harvard Business Review Digital Article.[cited 2019 May 17]. Available from: hbr. org, published10/9.

Egener, B. E., Mason, D. J., McDonald, W. J., Okun, S., Gaines, M. E., Fleming, D. A., … & Andresen, M. L. (2017). The charter on professionalism for health care organizations. Academic Medicine, 92(8), 1091. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000001561

Vanguard Health Systems. (2015). Vanguard health systems Inc. NASDAQ | Sample Links. https://secfilings.nasdaq.com/

Wood, S. J. (2019). Cascading strategy in a large health system: Bridging gaps in hospital alignment through implementation. Health services management research, 32(3), 113-123. https://doi.org/10.1177/0951484818805371

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Assignment: Health Organization Evaluation