Healthcare       

Healthcare

Importance of alternative strategic plans in a healthcare environment

Strategic alternative planning refers to strategies developed by a business to create a new direction. Strategic alternative planning is necessary in healthcare because it helps different departments, such as cardiology and electrophysiology, to work better. Alternative strategic plans in the healthcare department are important because they reduce the possibility of life-threatening situations in the healthcare environment (Perera & Peiró, 2012). In situations where there appears to be a great disparity between demand and supply in the health sector, strategic alternatives are necessary to improve the quality of patient care. The strategic alternative planning is an eye-opener for structuring an organization to make it attain its optimum potential. A strategic alternative approach to the healthcare environment encourages organizational growth by setting achievable goals and providing necessary resources for attaining the goals (Perera & Peiró, 2012).  Strategic alternatives are essential to healthcare organizations because the industry is dynamic. Things keep changing and for an organization to survive and remain successful, it also requires to alter and develop new strategies for countering the industry changes. If an organization chooses to remain stagnant in an ever-changing environment, other organizations in the industry will overtake it in a stiff competition that may affect its financial position

Healthcare organization requires creating a flexible strategic plan for managing their operation because of the external environment impact on their practices. Policy changes in the healthcare industry instituted by the government largely affect operations of a health facility. Changes in the federal health programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Affordable Care Act can affect the way strategic planning and implementation take place in a healthcare organization. As a result, stakeholders for a particular health facility need to develop and strategic plan that can adapt to the changes in the healthcare sector (Adams, 2015). Industry best practices set standards of healthcare operations such as the definition of quality and facilities required by a healthcare organization to acquire or conduct certain health procedures.  The source of health policy, such as the federal or state administration, has a massive impact on healthcare performance and administration. As such, flexibility is highly necessary to address the otherwise inevitable regulation from authorities. Healthcare managers should design non-rigid policies as a way of preparing their facilities to handle government regulations and operational changes (Adams, 2015). This form of flexibility makes an organization not to be massively affected by the change, which may appear as a rigid shock planning was adopted by the manager.

Asian Health Service (AHS) managed to utilize alternative strategic planning that enabled it to adjust to federal healthcare policies such as the ACA. The healthcare organization adjusted to this change by adopting the blue ocean strategy and the electronic health recording system, which expanded patient coverage and enabled growth (Welch & Edmondson, 2012).  However, ASA is experiencing high employee turnover rates for its physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistant. The competitors happen to be offering their employees good employment terms such as higher pay and attractive retirement packages. ASA is encountering human resources challenges that require managers to initiate alternative financial strategies that would help retain experienced workers. ASA ought to revise the salaries of its experienced workers to reduce the turnover rate being experienced. The management should also increase the number of health workers in the facility to reduce the number of patients served by a single physician or nurse in a day. This is because the high turnover rate could be as a result of workload in ASA when compared to competitor healthcare providers.

Reference

Adams, J. (2015). Successful strategic planning: creating clarity. Journal of Healthcare

Information Management—Vol, 19(3), 25.

Perera, F. D. P. R., & Peiró, M. (2012). Strategic planning in healthcare organizations. Revista

Española de Cardiología (English Edition), 65(8), 749-754.

Welch, S. J., & Edmondson, B. (2012). Commentary: Applying blue ocean strategy to the

foundation of accountable care. American Journal of Medical Quality, 27(3), 256-257.