A Health Organization 's Strategic Planning Process

The ever-changing environment in healthcare requires strategic planning teams to address a handful of specific critical issues that will lead to success in the long term. In an industry as diverse and large as health care, Scripps Mercy will face many challenges but will need to avoid the temptation during the environmental assessment phase of its strategic plan. Zuckerman (2012) states, "Failure to produce a limited number of issues to address in subsequent planning activities almost always dooms the strategic planning process" (p. 43), too often healthcare is riddled with issues; an effective environmental assessment will condense these concerns in a solid and clear way. All the new upcoming changes in healthcare reform and technology will have Scripps Mercy face many challenges in information management, their demographic served, and staff recruitment and development.

‘Over 105 million people living in America today no longer have to worry about having their health benefits cut off’ (Secretary WH) . Since enacted, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been able to provide for millions of lower and middle class Americans a secure and reasonable healthcare plan that best suits their medical needs. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) also commonly refer to as ‘Obamacare’ was a solution implemented in 2010 to help reform the precarious healthcare system in the United States. The ACA imposed three key reforms adopted from the successful Massachusetts system of healthcare. First, the ACA established a “guaranteed issue and community rating requirements” which essential barred healthcare insurances

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also referred to as the "Affordable Care Act" or "ACA" or "Obama Care") is the major health care reform bill passed into law on March 23, 2010. The debates surrounding the PPACA have been volatile at times, and continue to be the most intense public examinations of any piece of legislation in our recent history. The affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is ripe for repeal. For the American public, there are ample reasons for dissatisfaction: higher costs; arbitrary and sometimes absurd rule-making; bureaucratization of an already overly bureaucratized sector of the economy; incompatibility with personal freedom and religious liberty; enormous spending and heavy taxation; and widely acknowledged design flaws, evident in the ACA’s hopelessly complex and unworkable subsidy schemes, boondoggle bailouts, and collapsing co-ops. Nonetheless, other ACA legal challenges were still facing the healthcare law. In December 2015, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court arguing against the constitutionality of the employer insurance mandate within the Affordable Care Act. The law contains a number of experiments designed to drive down health costs, such as Accountable Care Organizations. The whole idea is to move the system away from paying for volume and toward paying for value. We still don't know whether that will happen. But it's fair to say that reducing the cost of health care will make it easier to expand coverage. The nation’s gains in health care coverage and delivery system design over the last several years have made measurable differences in the lives of millions of Americans. There are many ways to achieve a high-performing health system. But it’s critical that the nation remain committed to this goal.

There are currently 44 million Americans who were unable to obtain health insurance before the reforms because they could not afford the premiums or because they had a pre-existing condition. “Obama Care” is a tax funded government program which helps these individuals obtain insurance by expanding Medicare and Medicaid and offering cost assistance through health insurance market places. It also provides reforms to the health care industry iin order to cut health care costs and provide affordable health insurance to all. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (or PPACA) originated as a Massachusetts law signed into effect

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act offers many healthcare benefits to a diverse group of American citizens. However, there are a few downsides as well. The major portions of the act deal with four primary issues:

Impending, current, and new legislation shapes both the face and minute details of healthcare delivery in the United States. Currently the most dramatic changes have come from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The act has increased the number of insured patients, lowered reimbursements, restructured reimbursements based upon new criteria than previously utilized, and created additional mandates for health care providers and facilities. The changes and impacts for Trinity Community Hospital's (TCH) proposed new service lines will alter how these service lines are organized and how successful they will be going forward. Impending or new legislation in the future has the potential to improve health care for patient and provider

PPACA requires employer-sponsored health plans include minimum standards. However, PPACA requires employers who have more than 100 full time employees to provide seventy percent of their total employees with health insurance coverage (Obama Administration, 2014). After 2015, this requirement will mandate employers to provide health care insurance for ninety five percent of their workers (Obama Administration, 2014). For individuals who is employed by these companies, this requirement is an advantage, they are guaranteed access to health insurance. However, for individuals who are engaged in business with these particular companies for goods or services, this is a disadvantage because it is likely that the business will raise prices to cover

Nashville-based Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) is the nation 's leading provider of healthcare services, a company comprised of locally managed facilities that include 165 hospitals and 115 freestanding surgery centers in 20 states and in London, employing approximately 225,000 people (“HCA, Inc.,” 2015). Four to five percent of all inpatient care delivered in the country today is provided by HCA facilities (“HCA Hospital Corporation of America,” 2015). The health care industry consists of “more than 830,000 establishments with combined annual revenue of about $2.2 trillion” (“Health Care Sector,” 2015). It is a very fragmented industry with the top 50 institutions producing 15% of revenue. It is a lucrative business if costs are contained, but operating margins are typically low, between 2-4% (“Health Care Sector,” 2015). There is substantial change in the industry in how payments are made per the Affordable Care Act (ACA), changing from a volume based reimbursement to quality based incentives (Dubois, 2013; Kutscher & Evans, 2013, “Health Care Sector,” 2015).

There is little distinction on how healthcare organizations conduct strategic assessment or the level to which strategic planning affects performances. Theories propose different explanations of the importance of strategic assessment in organizations. Reading numerous articles, shows no impact or changes on ways to view or think of strategic assessment. The use of strategic assessment is supported by many organizations, including healthcare. Organizations incorporate strategic assessment with marketing, others assign it to planners, and others distribute among the top management team. Which either ways, the ideal of assessing shows the organization’s willingness to achieve a goal. In this assignment, the use of SWOT concept is employed

Effective strategic planning and resultant implementation in current healthcare systems is a critical component of remaining viable in the present-day fluid healthcare industry. According to Tibergien (2013), strategic planning and implementation address the distribution of resources. In this manner, healthcare systems tackle weaknesses by asking how best to allocate resources in order to minimize weaknesses and to improve the ability to capitalize on opportunities (Sachdev, 2014).

Strategic planning is a completely valid and useful tool for guiding all types of organizations, including healthcare organizations. The organizational level at which the strategic planning process is relevant depends on the unit's size, its complexity and the differentiation of the service provided. A cardiology department, a hemodynamic unit or an electrophysiology unit can be an appropriate level, as long as their plans align with other plans at higher levels. The leader of each unit is the person responsible for promoting the planning process, a core and essential part of his or her role. The process of strategic planning is programmable, systematic, rational, and holistic and integrates the short, medium and long term, allowing the healthcare

In conclusion, Strategic planning, performance improvement, and information systems are very essential for the proper functioning of a health service organization. Proper interrelation of Strategic planning, performance improvement, and information systems are needed to produce an excellent quality of health care services. In order to accomplish this goal, all hands need to be on deck across the board to better facilitate our patients. In order to succeed, competence and change needs to take place towards reaching the goal of an effective health care system.

Building up a dream of future and personal strategic plan is not a difficult procedure, but rather it does take some idea and time. The procedure begins with individual research that incorporates a comprehension of y life arranges, the powers that drive life and conceivable occasions. Personal strategic plan makes a roadmap of activity for the following year – giving a premise for choice making and norms by which to live. Here the organization chosen is related with health which supplies medicines and the name is ABX health industry. Making an individual vital arrangement is an effective practice in taking administration one could lead his own life. One

The program does indeed comply with the overall mission of the hospital. As the case indicates population increases along with lack of overall resources creates a compelling argument for the cardiovascular service. For one, the age of 45-64 year old individuals within the community is increasing dramatically, which warrants the need for a more profound program. In addition, patients are often travelling many miles for treatment of many, more common cardiovascular programs. As such the overall program does comply with the hospitals mission of providing the best available care to the county and surrounding territories. The addition of the cardiology care center has implications for both the hospital and surrounding areas in which it operates. For one the program provides a continuity of services to the general public. This is important as medical and nursing staff's helping patients are constant throughout the treatment cycle. This ultimately minimizes patient transfers which enhances the overall quality of care to those within the hospital. As such, this program does align with the overall strategy and mission of the hospital, as it relates to patient care and treatment. In addition, the hospital would like to grow and be recognized nationally as a premier institution. Much like many of the other competing firms in the county, this hospital aims to be the best patient care provider in the county

Every successful business has a defined vision and goals that influence the approach that is utilized to fulfill the company’s objective. Strategic and organizational planning is the cornerstone of developing a business strategy to attain an organization’s purpose. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), strategic and organizational planning have become essential in a healthcare system’s ability to remain competitive within their community, as well as remaining compliant with governmental standards. This paper will explore strategic and organizational planning with the purpose of exploring these concepts with a local hospital.