DIscussion 1 and 2

What is the value of sample indicators for healthcare organizations?  How do we assess strategic planning and marketing for healthcare organizations?

Jane (a nurse), Sam (a nutritionist), Caleb (a nursing assistant), and Peter (a doctor) were the founding members of Monitor-Up. This team of four healthcare professionals gathered at a coffee shop to create an innovative start-up healthcare service in October of 2018. Their new business provided high-end smart watches to their clients. Monitor-up would use the smartwatch data and other lab tests (that would be performed at their recently rented small office located at the local city mall) as a basis for the services they provided. Monitor-Up included medical evaluations and suggestions for exercise routines by certified personal trainers and nutritional recommendations, as well as, web-based consultancy granted to every participant who registered for the $45 monthly service. As the team discussed the details of their start-up, they realized they needed a plan and a strategy to break-even for their business in the second quarter of operation. One goal they had in mind was reaching 100 registered clients by the end of their first year. They were slightly concerned that a new health, wellness, and gym facility had recently opened a mile away from their small office about 2 weeks after they had registered their business, and this facility offered similar services to Monitor-Up.

How and why do organizations plan? Organizations plan by setting meaningful goals, objectives, and strategies that move the organization to a desired position in the market, industry, and community. By planning, a healthcare organization can clearly lay out in measurable terms what it desires to accomplish. Typical measures of performance include patient volume, financial performance, market share, and occupancy.

This week you will analyze sample indicators of organizational performance for healthcare organizations. You will also assess strategic planning and marketing for healthcare organizations. Finally, you will identify terms and concepts relating to strategic planning and marketing.

Discussion: Measures of Organizational Performance

When you are assigned a task, what do you do first? Do you think about evaluating and planning what to do or do you just jump right in and get to work? Many of us don't have much time to plan, or at least we don't think we do. Some healthcare professionals find planning boring and prefer to just get started without a second thought. Strategic planning is preparing for the future. It is deliberate, purposeful, and thoughtful. Some individuals do not realize how vital planning is to their own success or to that of their organization. It is vital to plan because it allows you to outline measurable goals, provide direction, evaluate progress, and assist you in decision making.

In this Discussion, you will select a healthcare organization and examine its performance, analyzing how strategic planning and marketing may affect and improve that organization.

To prepare for this Discussion:

Review this week's Learning Resources, especially Jennifer Wilkerson's discussion from this course's Interactive Media.

Analyze the Hospital Competitor Performance document that provides further information (sample indicators of performance) in reference to Waldenville profiles and choose one of the healthcare organizations from this document as the focus of your work in this Discussion. Read about one of the Waldenville healthcare organizations.

By Day 4

Post a comprehensive response to the following:

• Identify the healthcare organization you have chosen. You may decide to choose one of the healthcare organizations located in this week’s optional resources or you may select one you have learned about through your research.

• Identify and explain which two measures of organizational performance you would recommend for the healthcare organization you have selected? Explain why.

• Explain how the two measures of organizational performance you selected advance the operational improvement of strategic planning and marketing for the healthcare organization you have chosen.

Support your work with specific citations from this week's Learning Resources and/or additional scholarly sources as appropriate. Your citations must be in APA format. 

Read a selection of your colleagues' postings.

Required websites:

https://services.hbsp.harvard.edu/lti/links/content-launch

https://thethrivingsmallbusiness.com/strategic-planning-process/

https://www.healthcatalyst.com/insights/top-7-healthcare-outcome-measures

cc_HLTH4115_1A.mp4

JENNIFER WEISS WILKERSON: At GoodSam we organize everything by five puzzle pieces. So we havea vision, which is to be the trusted leader in caring for people and advancing health. And then our missionis also part of the planning process, and that's what we strive to do every day.

What we do then, by puzzle piece: service, quality, people, growth, and finance, is develop strategic goalsunder each of those five categories. Each of the goals is aimed at advancing or achieving our vision. So partof the strategic planning process is to develop the goals under each of the puzzle pieces, and then setmeasurable objectives to figure out how do we know when we've gotten there. And then through theplanning process we set the longer term strategies, and the annual tactics to achieve those goals.

So it's really sort of a cycle, a planning process that occurs on an annual basis at least. The last severalcycles have been three year cycles. We are talking about moving to a five year cycle. I think a five yearcycle helps you think a little bit bigger. In the three year cycle you can still get sort of caught up in the dayto day operational kinds of things. But when you start to think five years out, you get a little bit morestrategic and visionary.

We use a traditional planning process in a lot of cases. I'm working on one now actually developing aMedStar orthopedic strategy, looking at the regional orthopedic strategy for MedStar. That's been a verytraditional process where we did what we call a current assessment. So we looked at all kinds of data forthe market, are internal data, and even forecast the data for both nationally and for the market in terms ofwhere volumes or are projected to grow.

We've shared that information with key stakeholders, met with lots of physicians, and then actually, as partof that process, done a SWOT analysis with each of the physician groups. And talked about what ourcurrent strengths weaknesses are. What our opportunities and threats are, sort of the external forces. And now we're about to start the planned development process based on what we know about the currentassessment, what we've identified as our own strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats.And now we're going to start to piece all that together into hopefully a coordinated plan for the Phoenix.

Strategic planning really is more focused on setting the vision, setting the direction, and then figuring outhow we're going to get there. In our case marketing has primary responsibility for internal communications.So they are constantly helping to explain the direction, and set the direction within the organizationinternally in communicating to our staff and our physicians.

NARRATOR: This special health report is sponsored by Good Samaritan hospital.

JENNIFER WEISS WILKERSON: And then once we've identified priority areas in the strategic plan forgrowth. Marketing helps to spread that word, again both internally and externally to consumers and to referring physicians and other clinicians. A lot of what they do also is related to targeting the right people,whether it's our people in a certain geography, or people who may need a specific service. And again, it's one of those opportunities to work together with strategic planning, because we typically have access to databases that will give you that information and point you in the right direction. And then the marketingteam takes over and helps develop the message, and the right vehicles to get it out.

I think one thing that I like best about my job is that it's always different. I mean it in strategic planning you're looking to the future. You're dealing with lots of different kinds of people. So I'm never bored, it's always something new. I've done strategic planning both within a hospital, and also in the consulting side of things. And there's something really special about being in a hospital for me, and that's part of why I've been at GoodSam for eight and a half years. Because at the end of the day strategic planning as is all aboutbusiness, but at the end of the day at GoodSam what I'm doing is really for the benefit of our patience. It

truly is a mission driven organization. And I could go do the health care strategic planning or strategicplanning for any business, theoretically. And working as a consultant, you get really focus on the business side. Working within a hospital, particularly at GoodSam I'm focused on the business side, but always withthe patient in mind. And that's to me what makes it worthwhile coming to work every day.

Hospital Competitor Performance – Waldenville

In addition to what is described in the Waldenville “profiles,” there are four hospitals in Waldenville. These facilities are located in different areas of the community, and each has its array of services and distinct service area. The description of each of these hospitals and their performance in the most recent year is as follows:

St. Francis Hospital: This not-for-profit Catholic hospital owned by the Sisters of St. Francis has 226 licensed beds and provides a range of services but specializes in obstetrics (maternity) and women’s services, oncology (cancer) services, and cardiovascular services. It has the highest market share for obstetrics in the local service area (42%).

Doctors’ Hospital: This for-profit hospital has licensed beds and is owned by a leading national hospital company. It specializes in orthopedics, cardiovascular services, and neurology, but offers a range of general medical and surgical services. It is the market leader in orthopedics. Fifty-five percent of its patients are Medicare patients.

Twin Rivers Community Hospital: This small, non-profit hospital provides general acute care inpatient services. It has a small medical staff, and many physicians also practice at Lakefront and St. Francis. The majority of patients served are covered under commercial insurance. The facility is operating in a negative financial position.

Lakefront Regional Medical Center: This regional referral hospital has 320 beds and is the oldest non-profit facility in Waldenville. It offers a range of inpatient and outpatient services. It specializes in cardiovascular services, oncology series, and obstetrics (maternity) and women’s services. It has established a number of primary care clinics throughout Waldenville and the region. It is the market leader for inpatient admissions in the community.

The community is projected to increase its population by 15% to 270,000 by the year 2018. Most growth is projected to occur in the age 65+ cohort. In addition, developers have announced the building of three housing communities that will cater to the older adult population. Therefore, an in-migration of older adults is expected in addition to the projected population increase as indicated by the state population studies office.

Table 1—Summary Performance Data for Hospitals in Waldenville, Latest Year

1)St. Francis 2)Doctors’ 3)Twin Rivers 4)Lakefront

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Lic. Beds 226 147 110 310

Occupancy 52% 64% 68% 72%

Admissions 11,284 7,850 7,454 16,720

Patient Days 43,211 34,100 27,350 81,607

% Medicare 33% 55% 26% 40%

% Insurance 35% 26% 40% 38%

Profit Margin .71 6.3 -2.3 8.2

Inpatient Market Share 28% 13% 18% 41%

Service Line Market Shares

Cardiovascular 25% 30% 13% 32%

Obstetrics 42% 20% 6% 32%

Oncology 30% 15% 15% 40%

Orthopedics 8% 40% 25% 27%

Neurology 12% 40% 18% 30%

Surgery 19% 45% 4% 32%

Women’s 27% 25% 10% 38%