Business Strategies

Running Head: MEDICAL MANAGEMENT

ACADIA HEALTHCARE 2

Medical Management: Acadia Healthcare

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Introduction

I have learned numerous invaluable contents throughout the course that has enhanced my understanding of Health Services Administration, which entails learning the various concepts applicable in the overall management of healthcare institutions. Essentially, this assignment involves medical management and corporate management concepts that address leadership, ethics, and strategic analysis. The three aspects form this task's core elements, which predominantly delves into Acadia Healthcare. Essentially, Acadia Healthcare is the leading provider of behavioural health services in the United States for people in need. Acadia has established its national presence across 40 states operating approximately 230 behavioural health facilities with about 10,200 beds. The establishment is relative in my field of study, which is the reason why I had an interactive experience researching about it and grasping the scope of how it operates in the industry. 

We have learned about leadership, ethics, and strategic management throughout this course and their significance. Therefore, providing information on Acadia Healthcare, I comprehensively addressed every aspect shedding more light on how the aspects play a part in the medical institutions. The first is leadership, which involves influencing, motivating, and guiding people to realize predetermined objectives and goals. Leadership provides direction, stability, morale, culture, and even affiliations alongside employee retention and development. Acadia uses an expanded organizational structure with several key top leadership positions. Some of the top leaders include the Chief Executive Officer led by Ms. Debbie Osteen, Chief Finance Officer (CFO) led by David Duckworth, Executive Vice president led by Christopher L. Howard, and Executive Vice President General Counsel, amongst others. The organization's leadership body comprises pure talents, where each of them has garnered immense experience before joining Acadia, eventually propelling it to higher levels of success and growth.

Leadership

The leadership of an organization refers to the process of influencing, motivating, and guiding persons within an organization to realize the predetermined objectives and goals (interobserver, 2021). In other words, organizational leadership entails the efforts to uphold the smooth running of all strategic and functional operations through a well-stipulated power structure. Leaders help organizations carry out their daily operations effectively to propel them towards the vision and objectives. Leadership within organizations is vital to facilitate the development of cultures that uphold workforce value alongside leveraging the constructive input of employees of an organization. For instance, just like a vehicle that needs a driver or controller to propel it toward the desired destination, organizations require individuals who help the employees, teams, or other stakeholders to steer their contributions towards achieving the goals. In that light, leaders play a vital role in making crucial and strategic decisions, supporting, and motivating the employees in their daily operational areas to enhance their competence and productivity (interobserver, 2021). Effective organizational leadership could significantly render stability, direction, and achievement of objectives and goals. It results from the leaders' role in representing organizational beliefs and mission to steer social good that is suitable for both the employees and patients, who are pivotal stakeholders for business entities.

Acadia Healthcare recognizes the essence of effective organizational leadership; as a result, it presents its leadership form in a broad organizational structure that highlights key departmental leaders. Acadia Healthcare's top leader is the Chief Executive officer (CEO), Debbie Osteen, who has served the position since 2018, recording her senior leadership experience of more than 36 years (Acadia Healthcare, n.d.). As the organization's CEO, Ms. Debra Osteen has facilitated Acadia Healthcare's strategic vision and embarked on a growth plan. She has vast experience in senior leadership in the behavioural healthcare practice, thus her competence. Under the CEO is the Chief Finance Officer (CFO), David Duckworth. Mr. Duckworth has served Acadia since 2011 and had previously served various organizations in their financial affairs (Acadia Healthcare, n.d.). Also, there is the Executive Vice president, Christopher L. Howard joined Acadia in 2011 after serving several other institutions as a senior leader (Acadia Healthcare, 2022). Under the CFO is the EVP finance, who is responsible for all Acadia's financial records and welfare, and the Senior Director, Tax, responsible for the organization's tax obligations and proceedings (Acadia Healthcare, 2022). Besides, under the CEO is the EVP General Counsel responsible for all legal matters within the organization (Acadia Healthcare, 2022). Precisely, Acadia strives to attract and retain pure talents in their leadership positions to facilitate the achievement of their lofty vision and strategic goals of expanding and establishing their presence globally.

Acadia's organizational leadership predominantly focuses on core areas that are pivotal for the development and sustainability of the industry. Such areas include finance, legal, strategic, medical, and quality and compliance. As mentioned, leadership plays a vital role in influencing, motivating, and guiding individuals within an organization to drive it towards achieving the predetermined goals and vision. Besides, utilizing competent and experienced leaders to leverage its performance in the market. As a result, adopting experienced leaders such as the CEO and CFO has helped them establish their dominance in the behavioural health field which essentially emerged among the leading providers of behavioural health services. Precisely, effective organizational leadership is a viable obligation that the business should explore to achieve their objectives and visions

Ethics

Another vital aspect for businesses is ethics, which refers to the standards of acceptable conduct in the community, especially in reference to obligations, fairness, rights, virtues, or obligations, among other relative elements (Schroeder '18, 2021). In other words, ethics delves into the concerns of decision-making that considers the eventual value and standards that determine people's actions as right or wrong. Ethics is a major concern in the business world, especially when referring to social and economic good. Consequently, ethics in business is considered a vital function as they significantly adopt ethics to uphold integrity along with key stakeholders, such as employees, customers, suppliers, and investors. Prevalently, organizations strive to establish an ethics program for operations to instil integrity among their employees and garner trust and confidence from vital stakeholders. However, the predominance of ethics programs come with variation in quality as business ethics mostly align with the respective corporate principles, values, and policies. Concurrently, the concept of business ethics is increasingly emphasized in modern establishments ranging from the adoption of the right talents and business reputation for the public (Schroeder '18, 2021). Moreover, business ethics compels employee behaviour through their respective organizations that represents and upholds them (Schroeder '18, 2021). In addition, business ethics plays a vital role in benefitting the bottom line, which enhances profitability by alleviating the losses and declining investor confidence.

Acadia Healthcare actively practices ethics in its business operations by identifying the essence of observing ethics in the modern world where questionable business practices would suggest doubt from employees to other key stakeholders such as investors and consumers alongside suppliers, which can impact the overall operations and performance (Resource Treatment Center, 2022). Acadia integrates an active Compliance Program and Code of Conduct to uphold integrity and ethics throughout their practices of rendering quality behavioural healthcare services in an accountable environment (Resource Treatment Center, 2022). The Resource Treatment Centre (2022) states that Acadia stipulates that all affiliates, regardless of the nature of the relationship, should be wary of and sensitive to scenarios that could result in the controversial image and deter their reputation, such as illegalities and unethical practice. Therefore, Acadia's affiliates should report any instance of misconduct, illegal or improper conduct that occurs within their premises that jeopardizes the available legislations and regulations or their Code of Conduct (Resource Treatment Center, 2022). Acadia strives to alleviate discrimination based on any varying aspect such as ethnicity, colour, treatment, nationality, or any other aspect. The Compliance Program and Code of Conduct helps establish and develop fairness, equality, satisfaction, and ethical and compliance obligations within the organization. Acadia's corporate governance upholds the codes to establish an egalitarian, caring, and responsible context amongst all stakeholders and affiliates, which in return have catapulted the organization to greater heights of success and dominance in the behavioural healthcare service in the United States (Resource Treatment Center, 2022).

With the increasing criticism of business practices, organizations have significantly shifted to execute their operations appropriately. According to a recent survey, good business ethics positively correlates with business success and growth (De George, 2021). Currently, the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic has established certain guidelines, rules, and regulations. The guidelines illustrate practical ways of operating a business amidst the contagion; so, failure or negligence to observe and practice per their provisions would result in scrutiny. Essentially, Acadia Healthcare promotes COVID-19 precautions and regularly updates on the effect of COVID-19. The preventive measures are significantly applied within the Resource Treatment Centre to keep the stakeholders safe (De George, 2021). As a result, good business ethics would limit organizations from risks and create a healthy business environment.

Strategic Analysis

Acadia intends to be a world-class organization providing behavioural health services through adopting growth strategies and investment strategies to subsidize the growing operations and expenses. Lastly, strategic analysis is another vital aspect to consider in a business environment. According to Question Pro (2018), strategic analysis refers to the process of evaluating an organization's business context that operates to develop a strategy. The main piece in the strategic analysis is 'strategy,' which is an action plan business leaders pursue to achieve the goals and objectives. In that context, an organization strives to identify the space it intends to occupy. Organizations operate in an environment full of drawbacks and shifts in consumer behaviour and interests, which would significantly impact their performance and success in their industries. Therefore, strategic analysis helps organizations establish strategic planning that aid in effective decision-making and streamlined operations. Strategic planning facilitates the efficient and practical achievement of set objectives and goals. Question Pro (2018) states that organizations should regularly undertake strategic analysis to identify the areas of strength and those that need improvement. Essentially, strategic analysis entails identifying ways to induce constructive adjustments, mostly viable in the prevalence of a goal and mission that guides organizational operations. There are two types of strategic analysis: internal strategic analysis and external strategic analysis, with the former conducted within an organization to identify strengths and weaknesses (usually conducted through a SWOT analysis- strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), and the latter delves in the external factors that influence the growth potential of an organization (usually conducted through PESTLE analysis- Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors) (Question Pro, 2018). 

Identifying the strategic position of an organization resulting from strategic analysis render leaders with the scope of their organizational position and potential in the industry. Acadia's mission is "to be a world-class organization that sets the standard for excellence in the treatment of mental health and addiction concerns" (Acadia Healthcare, 2019). Therefore, to establish their presence globally, Acadia Healthcare embarks on various growth strategies that have helped garner approximately 230 behavioral health facilities and about 10,200 beds across 40 states in the United States (Acadia Healthcare, n.d.-c). Since its conception, Acadia has strived to establish effective behavioral health partnerships across the US to enhance the lives of demographics in need through amplifying access to behavioral health services throughout the United States (Acadia Healthcare, n.d.). Also, Acadia embarks on joint ventures and mergers, such as with Orlando Health and Waud Capital Partners, respectively (Caramenico, 2011; Franklin, 2021). In that light, Acadia is concurrently growth strategies and investment strategies to facilitate achieving its mission, "to be a world-class organization that sets the standard for excellence in the treatment of mental health and addiction concerns."

Therefore, effectively conducting strategic organizational analysis helps formulate strategic action plans that could, in return, guide them in actualizing the strategy. For instance, Acadia's growth strategy entails embarking on partnerships and mergers and acquisitions that exponentially enhance the accessibility of their behavioral healthcare services to people in need. Also, to sustain the vast growth strategies, Acadia has to formulate investment strategies to subsidize their financially-intense growth strategies. Consequentially, the strategies have rendered quantifiable outcomes such as increased revenues and increased reach across the US, indicating the essence of conducting a strategic analysis. 

References

Acadia Healthcare. (n.d.-a). Debbie Osteen- Chief Executive Officer. Acadia Healthcare. Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://www.acadiahealthcare.com/about/acadia-staff/debbie-osteen/

Acadia Healthcare. (n.d.-b). Our Partnerships. Acadia Healthcare. Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://www.acadiahealthcare.com/about/partnerships/

Acadia Healthcare. (n.d.-c). Over 227 Treatment Locations in The US & Puerto Rico | Acadia. Acadia Healthcare. Retrieved February 4, 2022, from https://www.acadiahealthcare.com/locations/

Acadia Healthcare. (2019). Mission, Vision, & Principles. Acadia Healthcare. https://www.acadiahealthcare.com/about/mission-vision/

Acadia Healthcare. (2022). Meet Our Senior Executive Team. Acadia Healthcare. https://www.acadiahealthcare.com/about/staff/senior-executive-team/

Caramenico, A. (2011, November 1). Acadia Healthcare, Majority Owned by Waud Capital Partners, Completes Merger with PHC, Inc. and Becomes Publicly Traded Company. Fierce Healthcare. https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/healthcare/acadia-healthcare-majority-owned-by-waud-capital-partners-completes-merger-phc-inc-and

De George, R. T. (2021). OpenMind. OpenMind. https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/a-history-of-business-ethics/

Franklin, T. (2021, December 1). Acadia Healthcare Forms Joint Venture With Orlando Health. Www.businesswire.com. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211201005787/en/Acadia-Healthcare-Forms-Joint-Venture-With-Orlando-Health

interObservers. (2021, July 16). Why Organizational Leadership is Important for Every Business. InterObservers. https://interobservers.com/organizational-leadership/

Question Pro. (2018, August 31). What is Strategic Analysis? QuestionPro. https://www.questionpro.com/blog/strategic-analysis/#:~:text=Strategic%20analysis%20is%20a%20process

Resource Treatment Center. (2022). Compliance & Code of Conduct. Resource Treatment Center. https://www.resourcetreatmentcenter.com/about/corporate-compliance/

Schroeder ’18, K. (2021, October). 3 Reasons Why Business Ethics Is Important | University of Redlands. Redlands. https://www.redlands.edu/study/schools-and-centers/business/sbblog/2019/may-2019/3-reasons-why-business-ethics-important/#:~:text=What%20Is%20Business%20Ethics%3F