Faith Community Hospital - Essay Example

As illustrated by the case, the uncoordinated activities of their staff in implementing hospital rules regarding insurance, patient demands, and service provision have generated a large number of unnecessary expenses for the hospital by increasing the hospital's insurance premiums, diminishing patient revenue, and increasing per-patient costs, while at the same time eliciting bad press from the media and tarnishing their reputation within the community.

Thus, an appropriate solution should focus on (1) increasing hospital efficiency without resorting to extreme cost-cutting measures (2) coordinating staff activities, to reduce inefficiency and unnecessary expenses; and (3) mending the hospital's reputation to rebuild confidence from the community, its patients, and other major stakeholders, hence increasing the hospital's incoming patients. In order to achieve this, Faith must first focus on its internal operations and seek ways to coordinate its staff.

In this respect, while their mission statement has provided a commonality among staff and board members alike, such that it elicited "their support for the purpose, values, and survival of Faith Hospital"; as a vision, it has failed to "generate consensus and commitment" due to the lack of concrete strategy on the part of the hospital (Moote, 2005, p.2). Hence, the hospital must re-communicate its goals and ground rules and ensure not only agreement and commitment to the hospital's goals but also adherence to ground rules and a common understanding of what it entails.

Through such efforts, the hospital can improve efficiency through better coordination among its staff. On the other hand, to reduce the number of unnecessary treatments, the hospital can adopt a more prescriptive care policy, which must be communicated to patients prior to admission to reduce the number of patients demanding unnecessary treatments. This will not only limit the number of unnecessary treatments, but it will also reduce costs insofar as preventable readmissions are concerned, which can further reduce unnecessary expenses in ensuring that patients get the most appropriate treatments leading to better hospital performance (Friedman, 2004).

However, to avoid conflicts with patients who either refuse certain treatments on the basis of religion, culture and other criteria, which the hospital deems detrimental to recovery and well-being, he may be required to sign a waiver to relieve the hospital of possible future liabilities. Furthermore, they can impose a criterion, which prospective uninsured and charity patients must meet before they can be admitted. This criterion can be based on the extent of the patient's illness, his need for treatment, the availability of alternate financing, and other factors which can help Faith determine which patients can be admitted on charity.

In this respect, they will not only reduce costs for unnecessary charity cases, but in ensuring that patients who really need charity are admitted, they can avoid criticism and bad press. Moreover, by providing a clear set of rules regarding charity and uninsured patients, which will be communicated to the public, the hospital can also prevent being liable for not admitting some patients. Thus, through these strategies Faith's efficiency and cost-effectiveness can be greatly improved. By improving staff coordination, Faith can improve the efficiency of its staff and ensure their adherence to rules, which can both reduce expenses and avoid liabilities.

In adopting prescriptive policies, they can also reduce unnecessary treatments to improve efficiency, both in terms of cost and facility use. In addition, the hospital can also improve its performance, which can be a good way to improve its reputation both in the media and among future patients. Lastly, by imposing clear criteria on the number and type of charity and uninsured patients that they will admit, the hospital will not only reduce costs, but they will also avoid criticisms for failing to admit patients in need of medical attention, consequently improving Faith's reputation in the community.

References Friedman, B. (2004). The rate and cost of hospital readmissions for preventable conditions. Medical Care Research and Review, 61(2), 225-240. Moote, I. (2005). Rethinking vision and leadership. The Banff Leadership Center. Retrieved 14 February 2006.