YOURSTAR ONLY

Unit 9 Assignment Concierge Care Backgrounder

You are the administrator of a small primary care practice that is owned and operated by two physicians. The practice is located in a relatively affluent bedroom community, which is a short commute to a major city. Although the clinic is for-profit, twice annually it provides free vaccinations to an uninsured population that live in the adjoining county.

One of the two principals, Dr. Green, has worked as a physician in the community for 30 years. He enjoys treating his patient base, yet he concedes that he is tired of practicing what he refers to as “assembly line medicine.” He has seen a lot of changes in the field over the past years and is very concerned that public and private reimbursements will further shrink. Apart from the two physicians, the practice currently employs three medical assistants and you, the office manager. Dr. Green feels that the practice needs to hire additional help, perhaps a couple of mid-levels, but he is not sure that revenues will support that expansion. The physicians currently share a patient census of more than 5,000 and, of those, approximately 40% are Medicare patients.

The younger of the two physicians, Dr. Jones, who has a very young family and will be paying back a very large student loan for another six years, recently attended a seminar on converting a practice to concierge care. He came back to the office very excited about the idea, particularly since he recently met the CEO of a large company who expressed a very strong interest in entering into a contract for the practice to provide concierge care to her most senior 50 executives. Between the amount paid by the company and personal contributions made by each senior employee, a guaranteed annual total of $3,000 per employee would be paid to the practice.

Dr. Jones thinks this would be a great start toward converting to a concierge care business model, and he is concerned that if they do not quickly pursue the opportunity, the other two primary care practices in town will compete for the business. Dr. Green agrees that the idea is appealing, particularly since he knows that some of their current patients could afford to sign up for concierge care services, but it is a big decision and he is hesitant to jump onboard. He has asked you to urgently investigate the options.

In the meantime, the small temporary help agency that is located next to the doctors’ practice is moving out. The landlord called you today to offer preferential lease terms on this adjoining space, which would allow the practice to increase its area by about one-third for the next 5 years.

Instructions

Locate and review the document called Concierge Care Backgrounder (please see above document about Concierge Care)

To prepare for this Assignment, you might also want to view the PBS NewsHour video, Concierge Medicine: Greater Access for a Fee, found here:

Source: Concierge Medicine: Greater Access for a Fee: PBS. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec12/medicine_07-09.html

Prepare a 3–4 page (1000-1200 words) analysis for Dr. Green that demonstrates your consideration of your practice’s current capabilities with regard to 1) adopting a concierge care business model or 2) expanding the existing practice. (Feel free to look at sample SWOT or Porter’s Five Forces Framework templates for ideas, but do not use a template because some applications may not be able to “read” the template you select.)

It is important to note that there are no completely right or wrong answers for this Assignment. In the end, the physicians will make the final decision, but they are looking to you to evaluate the situation from a business perspective, to have asked the right questions and to do the legwork.

Your submission will be graded based on your clear demonstration that the following have been considered:

• Competition

• Customers (mix, customer demand)

• Continuity of care

• Value

• Sources of revenue

• Costs (including marketing, technology, payroll, office fit-out)

• Staffing needs (propose specific roles and responsibilities)

• Ethical concerns

Finally, in a concise summary paragraph or two, present your recommendation to your employers. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the status quo versus moving to a concierge care model? Does a hybrid model make sense? If so, how would you structure it, and why do you think it is the desired option?

Remember to be clear and detailed in your responses. Your writing should follow the conventions of Standard American English (correct grammar, punctuation, etc.), and it should be logical, original and insightful. Finally, ensure that your paper fully conforms to APA Style and include a cover page and a reference page.

Requirements 1 Kaplan University School of Health Sciences HS450 Strategic Planning and Organizational Development for Healthcare COURSE #

• The body of the paper should be 3–4 pages (1000-1200 words) in length. A title page and a reference page should also be included but do not apply to the length requirement.

• The paper should be written in an essay format, with transitions between paragraphs that discuss specific topic areas or thoughts. Include an introduction and conclusion.

• Double-spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman font

• Follow the conventions and mechanics of Standard American English (correct grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, etc.).

• The submission should be presented in an organized, logical and unified manner and consist of superior content that is original and insightful.

• Include at least one reference. Neither the course textbook nor the PBS video may count toward the reference requirement for this Assignment, but you should still cite these sources if you utilize them. All references should follow APA style format.

• Meet APA style requirements throughout the submission, including title page, formatting, citations in the body of the text as well as related references. Please be sure to download the file “Writing Center Resources” from Doc Sharing to assist you in conforming to APA style