Analysis template

External SWOT Analysis

External SWOT Table

Opportunities	Brief description of how this opportunity manifests at your HSO
1.Expansion of Telemedicine Services	AdventHealth Hendersonville is located in a remote area and expanding its telemedicine services will play a significant role in reaching more people. According to Butzner and Cuffee (2021), telehealth models in rural areas are key to promoting lacking specialty care.
2. Partnerships	Since the health facility is located in a rural area, attracting workforce can be challenge, and thus, partnering with local colleges and schools will help the facility increase its workforce.
3. Growth in elderly population	In North Carolina, the population is significant shifting with elderly population retiring and relocating to the rural area, therefore, the demand for easily accessible care is growing.
4. Funding Initiatives for Rural areas	Rural health facilities are benefiting significantly from state and federal funding. According ‌National Association of Counties (2025), providing funding to rural facilities through initiatives such as CMS Rural Healthcare will enhance healthcare.
5. Mobile Clinics	Another opportunity that AdventHealth Hendersonville can utilize is creating mobile clinics which they will use to boost community healthcare programs such as disease prevention and healthcare outcomes, this initiative will also attract more partnerships and funding.
6. Technology-driven healthcare	AdventHealth Hendersonville has limited technology inception, it can leverage this by using mobile applications and using cutting-edge technologies such as using AI tools in triage to improve outcomes.
Threats	Brief description of how this threat manifests at your HSO
1.Policy Changes	North Carolina are likely to have a significant impact on revenue allocation, Medicaid expansion and changes in reimbursement rules is likely affect AdventHealth Hendersonville revenue hence increasing running costs of the facility.
2.Competition from Big Health facilities	There are large healthcare facilities such as Mission Health that pose threat to AdventHealth Hendersonville, since this facility have better equipment, they are likely to attract patients with better insurance coverage.
3.Shortage in Workforce	According to ‌Kolié et al. (2023), although rural pipeline approach for workforce has gained recognition lately and stakeholders are working to improve the availability of health workers in these areas. Nonetheless, facilities such as AdventHealth Hendersonville are still experiencing difficulties in attracting nurses, physicians and other healthcare workforce.
4.Poor Internet access	Unlike urban areas, rural areas are still experiencing inadequate internet infrastructure, this threatens the facility’s vision to improve and expand its telehealth services.
5.High costs of labor and medical supplies	Recently, there has been high inflation rates which have affected global supply chains increasing healthcare operational costs and affecting sustainability.
6.Increase in Disinformation and Misinformation	With social media development, there has been widespread misinformation on using healthcare tools such as digital healthcare and discouraging people from taking vaccines. This efforts have led to undermining of preventive care and uptake of telemedicine.

External SWOT Analysis Interpretation

Findings

Looking at the SWOT analysis, is it clear that healthcare facilities are benefiting from opportunities that are emerging such as partnerships, expansion of technology and growth in demographics. Although AdventHealth Hendersonville is a small rural hospital, the facility has a chance to benefit from digital advancement, programs funded by federal and state governments and strong ties with the local communities. Similarly, the facility also faces threats which are mainly from large facilities which have better capacity to launch large healthcare systems and technologies. According to Woods et al. (2024) rural populations continue to experience health inequalities, threats such as workforce shortage complicate the already bad situation in facilities such as AdventHealth Hendersonville because the new programs that will be implemented will lead to strained staff due to high demand for services.

Ethical Considerations from Opportunities and Threats

Nelson et al. (2020) argue that ethical organizational culture is the foundation of success in healthcare facilities. Opportunities such as telemedicine expansion raise questions on their impact into equitable care, internet access may also prevent certain groups in North Carolina from accessing vial care. When expanding on other opportunities such as outreach programs, the facility must also prioritize ethical strategies that will include the vulnerable in the community.

Threats such as healthcare misinformation are unethical, although facilities are working hard to fight medical myths, there is need for ethical education and transparency. Healthcare leaders must also align their facilities with values such as compassionate care and Christian foundations. Thus, aligning with ethical care is not just a risk-management issue but an advantage to the facility to promote integrity and justice in communities.

Strategic Implications and Recommendations

Through the findings, the SWOT analysis forms a foundation for advancing strategic priorities in care. There are various strategic recommendations that can play a significant role in this evaluation.

Expanding healthcare services based on trends in population:

By analyzing the North Carolina population data, offering services such as geriatric care to the aging and retiring population will help in improving healthcare services in the region.

Use grants from government to pilot programs:

CMS Community Health Access and Rural Transformation (CHART) model are some of the initiatives that the government can use to fund AdventHealth Hendersonville. These resources can be used to test programs such as telehealth and other healthcare infrastructure improvements.

Develop Rural Pipeline for Rural Healthcare workers:

Educational institutions in North Carolina can offer strategic partnership to AdventHealth Hendersonville by creating a scholarship-to-employment partnership that will ensure sustainable healthcare workforce in the facility.

Address Healthcare Misinformation:

AdventHealth Hendersonville can launch various programs that will help in educating the community on how to differentiate misinformation from healthcare facts.

References

Butzner, M., & Cuffee, Y. (2021). Telehealth interventions and outcomes across rural communities in the united states: Narrative review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(8), e29575. https://doi.org/10.2196/29575

‌National Association of Counties (2025) Enhance Funding for Local Rural Health Programs. (2025). https://www.naco.org/resource/enhance-funding-local-rural-health-programs

‌Kolié, D., Van De Pas, R., Codjia, L., & Zurn, P. (2023). Increasing the availability of health workers in rural sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review of rural pipeline programmes. Human Resources for Health, 21(1), 20.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-023-00801-z

Woods, L., Eden, R., Macklin, S., Krivit, J., Duncan, R., Murray, H., Donovan, R., & Sullivan, C. (2024). Strengthening rural healthcare outcomes through digital health: qualitative multi-site case study. BMC Health Services Research, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11402-4

Nelson, W. A., Taylor, E., & Walsh, T. (2020). Building an ethical organizational culture. Health Care Manager, 39(4), 168–174. https://doi.org/10.1097/HCM.0000000000000304