Healthcare Management - Case Study Example

 Healthcare Management Name: Institution: Instructor: Date Abstract Managing healthcare can be challenging, and it often needs a better strategy and approach to managing the system effectively. Shortell and Kaluzny talk about the four scenarios in the healthcare system, which includes healthcare as a business, healthcare as an economic development issue, healthcare during hard times or government pressured, and health care as a shared vision. The effects of the different scenarios on cost containment, the role of management, changing organization’s culture, and access to healthcare are discussed under each scenario. The paper concludes with a recap of the scenarios and elements of healthcare, with a review of how the scenarios affect the elements of healthcare. Introduction Healthcare management as a practice provides many challenges to most players in the industry, understanding how to have properly manage the healthcare system for sustainability is crucial. Shortell and Kaluzny (2000) propose different options for the future that can assist in healthcare management; they talk about the four different scenarios that can be used. The scenarios include healthcare as a normal business, healthcare when government is pressured or hard times, healthcare as an economic development issue, and health care as a shared vision. The healthcare industry has been among the fastest growing industries in the recent times but on the other side it has been among the slowest industries in adapting the new technologies and techniques, which places the sector in a challenging position (Porter & Lee, 2013). When looking at the different scenarios, we have to consider the effect on the different efforts to contain the costs, the access to healthcare, the role of management, and the efforts to change the organization’s culture. In the paper, we are examining how the four different scenarios outlined by Shortell and Kaluzny on the different aspects of healthcare. Business as Usual (Healthcare as a Business) The underlying principle in this scenario is that we have to view healthcare like any other business in our daily lives and not any specific business in particular. Here, we have to consider the fact that a business has to generate revenue, it has to be profitable for it to operate and continue in business. The understanding that the primary goal of any health care facility or the health care sector at large is to treat people still holds, but the goals and strategies should be aimed at maximizing revenues for the business. As Shortell and Kaluzny (2000) note, the healthcare sector is highly dynamic, and establishing them as a business would bring in a new perspective to how the sector is managed, the various strategies have to be aligned to profit maximization, apart from the primary goal of any health care provider or organization. The difference between the usual approach to healthcare management and viewing it as a business, it helps the management to focus on the units that will ensure they earn more revenue and implementing the various cost cutting techniques. Cost containment is often a goal for many healthcare players; they want to ensure that they are operating within the sustainable limits without hurting the quality of service delivered to the customers. Mark Stabile et al. (2013) notes that the cost of healthcare has been rising steadily over the recent past, and the proportion of national budgets being spent on healthcare reflect the same increase, costing the taxpayers a lot of money. The scenario where healthcare is a business will look at alternatives to ensure that the services offered can sustain the operations of the institutions. The government often subsidizes most of the services, but in some instances, the services are costly and there is need to find ways of containing the costs. Establishing the health care facilities as businesses is a step towards containing the costs in the healthcare sector (Merlis, 2009). The strategy will allow the management to identify ways that it can generate more revenue to support the operations while ensuring that health care is accessible and affordable to the patients. Ensuring that the healthcare services are accessible is crucial in for any nation; the provision of services should be not only affordable but also accessible to the patients. Access means that the patients will be able to use the services provided when they need it without major constraints such as cost and availability of facilities. When a sector is a business, it should ensure that patients can afford the services being offered, and in instances where the services are costly, they should provide avenues for the patients to meet the costs without much difficulty (Burns, Bradley, Weiner, Shortell, & Kaluzny, 2011). The role of management will have to shift by the new expectations or goals; the management should take up the role of ‘entrepreneurs’ to ensure profitability of the establishments. The management should focus on making health care accessible and affordable and at the same time earn revenue to support the operations; the facilities should not run at a loss at the very least. The role of management will align to the new business model for the healthcare sector. The organization’s culture is bound to change because the goals have shifted. The healthcare sector can be non-profit, for-profit, and government supported, and in this scenario, it is established as a business, then the entire culture shifts and new one comes in. the management might lead the culture change because their roles will shift, which is part of the organization’s culture. The shift of focus affects the organizational culture; it has to adhere to the new expectations of any business. Unlike most businesses, the healthcare sector often has a unique culture but when it is run as a business, then they have to focus on revenue generation and cost minimization, as their primary commitment will be to make the organization profitable, affecting the different goals of the staff in the organization (Burns, Bradley, Weiner, Shortell, & Kaluzny, 2011). Any organization has their unique culture, under this scenario, we expect that the employees will adapt to the new goals, and the management will establish a team that will oversee the operations to ensure that the business is profitable, and the employees are performing to their level best. Hard Times / Government Pressured (Underserved Population, Policies, and Regulations) During the hard times, the healthcare sector is often affected in several ways, which is the same when the government is pressured. Resources are important to have the healthcare sector running and sustainable, the federal government spends billions of dollars on healthcare annually, and there are times when the government is pressured. The underserved population needs more services to address the deficit in service provision; the scenario needs intervention from the relevant stakeholders. During such times, the government is hard-pressed to provide for the underserved population; there is a need for policies and adjusting the regulations to cover the hard times. Budgetary provisions should correspond to the needs of the citizens, and when the healthcare sector is going through hard times, the corresponding support from the government might not be sufficient (Stephan & Pathak, 2014). The populations that do not receive adequate healthcare support maybe because of inadequate funds, inadequate personnel, or both are a challenge to ensuring universal access to health care by all populations. The scenario affects the basic elements of the healthcare sector in different ways. The costs of providing healthcare to the underserved populations during the hard times can be high; the government has to contain the costs. The scenario calls for austerity measures to contain the costs and ensure that the people who need health care services receive them. Imran Aslan (2016) notes that the hard times include crises such as economic and political crises, and they often affect the quality and prices of services. The people need more services, which calls for the need to adjust the government policies to allow the government to address such situations. Healthcare management should be responsive to the different situations that need urgent attention and out of the normal operations, the hard times and government pressured scenarios are some of those situations, they are kind of responding to a disaster. Containing the costs should be a priority, this will ensure that the government spends on essential services and the majority of the underserved population receives the services (Merlis, 2009). The scenario poses a huge challenge to the people responsible for managing the costs because the underserved population needs to be served while on the other hand the resources are limited, which calls for different measures such as policy reforms to accommodate the pressure on resources. Health care access during a hard time is a challenge, especially with the underserved population. The policies and regulations can be inhibiting, with many bureaucracies, which can be a huge problem. The government has to play a huge role to ensure that the population receives the necessary essential care. The underserved population’s situation will worsen under this scenario because the government budget on everything will be tight, and the few available resources will be under competition from everyone. The policies and regulations should come in handy to address the situation, although the policies can be rigid at times, there should be some change to address the situation (Burns, Bradley, Weiner, Shortell, & Kaluzny, 2011). To understand how access to health care is affected during hard times, we need to understand the prevailing situation, and consequently how it will change when the resources are limited. The cut in healthcare spending is a possibility that will affect the underserved population who need more health care services, and the existing policies and regulations might not be responsive to the new scenario. The organization’s culture and the role of management will be affected during the hard times. The need for alliances will be seen in such a scenario, the organization has to build alliances with other stakeholders in the industry to survive the hard times. The culture will evolve to a different one because the organization is supposed to ensure that the underserved population do not continue to suffer despite the unavailable resources because of the hard times or government pressured. The management will play a huge role in this situation, it will be in charge of ensuring that regardless of the scarce resource and little support from the government, they are receiving the essential services. The management might consider options such as partnering with the private sector to provide the services, pooling resources with other players, pushing for more funding from the government, and look for other possible sources of resources (Stephan & Pathak, 2014). New management systems are encouraged during such times to ensure smooth running of the operations, and to ensure value to the customers despite the challenged posed by the hard times. Healthcare as an Economic Development Issue (Cost of Healthcare) The healthcare sector has not received much attention as an economic issue, yet it is a huge economic factor that continually affects the economies in the world. The investments in the sector go as high as billions of the annual budgets, it is essential and desirable, but there are a couple of tough challenges facing the sector. The citizens have the highest expectations from the government concerning the health care services provisions. What makes the matter complex is the rising prevalence of chronic diseases, aging populations, and the expensive indispensable technologies and facilities (Frenk, 2016). The healthcare sector relies heavily on the taxes paid by the citizens, taking up a huge chunk of the budgetary allocation, which makes it an important economic factor. The healthcare spending should be viewed as an investment in the economy, of which a return on investment should be expected. When talking about economic development, the investment in healthcare should be considered, with a focus on how the different elements of health care are affected by the investments. Containing health care costs need to be a priority to avoid affecting the economy by a higher or lower spending on the sector. The cost of healthcare should be at a manageable level, as Mahmud & Parkhurst (2007) note, the sector takes up a huge amount and is ranked among the top spenders. Having a solid policy in place to guide the amount being invested in the sector will be beneficial to the entire economy. Health care should be viewed as a development issue, which brings in the perspective of optimizing the benefits to be realized from the investment. The value will lie in the numbers receiving quality services at the lowest cost possible; the resources allocated to the healthcare sector should be used appropriately avoiding any wastage. The proportion of the cost of health care on the entire economy should not exceed a certain percentage to avoid crippling other sectors in the economy (Merlis, 2009). The investment should be viewed as a positive one, although in some instances, there might not be instant results, in the end, the results can be felt. Health care access should not be compromised in any way, and in many instances, it should be seen as an enabler of economic growth and development. When we see healthcare as part of economic development, it means that the access to health care will be increased. The goals such as universal access, quality health care, and equity will be realized, which will in turn ensure that there is quality for money invested in the sector (Banerjee, Deaton, & Duflo, 2004). The efforts should be made to realize sustainability of healthcare; it is one area that has never been entirely explored for the various cost efficient options to ensure sustainability while keeping health care services accessible to the patients. Access to health care and economic performance are intertwined in many aspects, the world trends show that the wealthier countries have accessible health care services, when a nation cannot ensure its citizens accessibility to health care services, the economy will suffer as a result (Frenk, 2016). A healthy population contributes a lot to the economy, which will consequently reduce the cost of healthcare. The role of the management will be to ensure that the cost of healthcare does not cripple the economy; it should consider it as a sector that contributes a lot to the economy and should be efficient. The role of management will change from ensuring that the health care is available and accessible to ensuring that it does not take much from the economy, and contributes to economic development of the nation. The scenario will necessitate an organizational culture shift. The cost of health care when carefully considered will not be the same as before. The organizational culture can shift in terms of how things operate in the institution, the renewed emphasis on people, innovation, and attention to detail. Innovation will be crucial to ensure that the organization is utilizing the latest technologies and techniques to save costs and other gaps on austerity measures (Burns, Bradley, Weiner, Shortell, & Kaluzny, 2011). Because the healthcare sector contributes to the nation’s economy, it is important to have a sustainable and efficient sector that is accessible and affordable to the patients. Healthcare as a Shared Vision (Access and Quality of Healthcare) Healthcare system is a complex system that involves many stakeholders from the government agencies to the private sector and the pharmaceuticals. It is overarching several sectors in between, and when approached as a shared vision, its management would be enhanced for better results to the patients. Involving all the stakeholders in the healthcare sector will bring together the interested parties to develop ways of increasing access and the quality of healthcare (Al-Abri & Al-Balushi, 2014). All the players should share the goal of the healthcare system, if the focus is on universal access or affordability of health care, then the stakeholders should work for the goal together, all the actions should reflect the commitment to the shared vision. Containing the cost of healthcare will be easier when it is a shared vision, the different stakeholders will have a say in the decisions, and will all contribute to the sector. Different policies need stakeholder engagement, for instance, the physicians will feel involved in the system when the government invites them to the policy-formulation process. The pharmaceuticals will be willing to involve the government in ways to make the medicines and medical devices affordable to the patients, and the government can offer incentives to them as a way of encouraging the pharmaceutical companies to reduce costs (Merlis, 2009). The move will increase access to healthcare; the involved parties will be willing to make the health care services available and affordable when they all share a common vision. The quality of health care will be achieved as a shared vision, from the device makers to the physicians to the colleges. Having a shared vision will make it easier to impose checks on the system to ensure that it meets the necessary quality standards and cannot be easily compromised because all the stakeholders are committed to the shared vision. The role of the management will be enhanced by the commitment to a shared vision, which will apply to the organization’s culture. The management will align its activities, vision, and goals to the shared vision by the entire sector. If it is ensuring quality care and increased access, the culture should be shifting to teamwork, commitment to quality, emphasis on people, and emphasis on outcome. Both the management and employees will be focused on the quality of health care services and ensure that majority of the patients has access to the services whenever they need (Al-Abri & Al-Balushi, 2014). When, for instance, the states have a shared vision for their healthcare systems, the achieving the national goal will be easier, and the role of the state management will shifts towards a national commitment in the long run, with a corresponding change in the organization’s culture. When healthcare is a shared vision, it is easier to achieve the goal, to ensure quality and accessible healthcare. Conclusion The healthcare system is highly dynamic and complex, managing the system can be challenging. Shortell and Kaluzny talk about four different scenarios that might be used in the future in the management of the healthcare system, the scenarios include healthcare as a business, the government pressured or hard times, healthcare as an economic development issue, and health care as a shared vision. The discussions revolve around how the scenarios affect cost containment, access to healthcare, the role of the management, and changing the organization’s culture. Healthcare management affects these elements in different ways, and it is discussed in details under the different headings while appreciating the importance the importance of innovation and the role of technology in modern healthcare management. References Al-Abri, R. (2007). 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