2011 Baldrige Award in Health Care: Henry Ford Health System - Assignment Example

? Baldrige Award in Health Care: Henry Ford Health System Lecturer: The provision of high quality health services is vital in the maintenance of a healthy nation. In this regard, there are set standards that are adhered to so as to ensure that high quality services are offered at affordable charges. This papers reviews Henry Ford Health System is a non-profit entity, in regard to its standard of services. 2011 Baldrige Award in Health Care: Henry Ford Health System Introduction Henry Ford Health System is a non-profit entity, which is now among the foremost healthcare providers. The world has varied quality standards to which an organisation can adjust and a standard of that kind is vital for a competitive necessity instead of a competitive advantage. The quality standards enable companies to compete favorably in order to win over other competitors, which make an organisation struggle to become winners of the Baldrige award. The Baldrige is a presidential reward for high quality and the prize program aims in helping organisations to improve the quality of their services. The Baldrige aims to encourage companies to improve quality and efficiency for the conceit of identification while striving to achieve a competitive edge through augmented profits (Henry Ford Health System, 2011). Henry Ford Health System is one of the winners of Baldrige award because it provides high quality and improved services that satisfy customers. Company Description Henry Ford Health System is a non-profit business entity, which was established by automobile pioneer known as Henry Ford in 1915, and the organization is currently among the foremost healthcare givers. The organisation comprises of health centers, hospitals and it one of the leading group practices in the country in Detroit with more than 1,200 physicians (Henry Ford Health System, 2011). The company is the fifth-largest employer with more than 23, 000 workers and it generates more than $ 1.7 billion annually. The organisation has been focusing on integrating services in order to deliver effective, high quality and affordable services. The organization is not a profit oriented; thus, it delivers services across the car continuum through nine business units with varied network of facilities. Their values include respecting people, recognizing each patient first, high performance and learning to make continuous improvements. Henry Ford Health System is driven by a passion for excellence and their culture is characterized by the focus on clinical excellence, system integration, community commitment and effective business practices. The culture aligns to their mission, vision and values; hence directing them to effective strategic planning and operational management. How the Organisation Implemented the HSA Principles and Practices and Their Impact on the Patients, Employees, Organizations, and Society Baldrige winner implemented the HSA principles and practices through responding to errors and making improvements across the healthcare industry. The aspect of HSA principles and practices revolves around the changes made within the industry with an aim of providing continuous high quality care services. Many companies have made significant efforts of improving quality; thus, in order to accommodate change, healthcare sectors establishes department of planning, which covers varied unanticipated concerns (Akdere, 2009). Moreover, the Baldrige framework is about performance excellence; thus, the Baldrige winner implemented the HSA principles and practices through formulating a strategic plan that focused on strategic performance. The planning department focused on issues of change, control mechanisms effective communication strategies and many other significant aspects. Effective strategic planning process was followed and this is where planners established short term and long-term fast-paced changes in the health reform through employing efficient principles and practices in an organisation. HSA principles and practices have varied impact on the patients, employees, organizations and society at large. First, the strategic planning process for HSA principles and practices can take varied levels to include the driven ideas of employees to decision made by the government. Strategic planners often facilitate change and help employees to adjust with the new business practices; thus benefitting employees. Therefore, it is vital for employees to understand the principles and practices established in a given organization because change is inevitable and can impact them. Secondly, the HSA principles and practices have made the company to continually increase their community benefit initiatives. Thirdly, HSA principles focused on the achievement of financial stability in an organisation; thus, the main strategy to achieve this was to make considerable changes in financial leadership. This is through employing experienced workforce to take financial leadership roles. Lastly, changes also focused on improvement of healthcare services to improve patient access to these services. This was made though reducing costs in the supply chain and implementation of a billing system effective to enable patient access to healthcare services efficiently. Skills Needed To Administer Financial Planning and Measure Financial Performance Employing workers with necessary financial planning and financial performance measures is a fundamental task necessary for any organisation because this will enable them to attain organizational goals successfully. Varied skills vital for conducting these exercise are necessary and among them is the financial planning skills, project management skills and many others. Employing such skills is vital for the manager because they can be beneficial to staff members across varied departments. Therefore, a successful manager can employ effective project management tools during the strategic planning process of the project in order to achieve successful outcome. Buchbinder and Shanks (2007) asserts that employing effective project management skills is helpful in financial planning and financial performance measures in any given healthcare organisation. In addition, technological and statistical skills are also obligatory when carrying out financial planning and financial performance measure activities. Employing these skills is vital in case managers want to determine the way organisation is performing financially. Therefore, statistical analysis by comparing and analyzing varied figures and this can be achieved successfully in case one possesses statistical and technological skills. Most organisations requires varied departments or sector to present financial reports for a certain period such as weekly, quarterly or yearly. This also reveals the need for having good report writing skills necessary for achieving the demanding needs of the organisation. The Expected Benefits of the Financial Planning Skills Paired Against What the Company Realized The financial planning takes varied process but this depends on the organizational needs. Therefore, possessing significant financial planning skills will enable the healthcare sector to determine both short and long-term security benefits. Henry Ford Health System has benefited from employing workers with significant financial planning skills since they have been able to manage their budget within the limited resources. Hall (2000) argues that a well-defined financial planning strategy with respect to financial resource allocations can motivate diverse health care system to maximize their resources effectively. Therefore, the company has recorded a restricted and appropriate managed financial budget and revenues since the year 2006 because of employing a distinct financial planning strategy (Henry Ford Health System, 2011). Despite the harsh economic environmental crisis, the company has managed to remain among the competitive healthcare organisations in terms of revenues because of controlling their finances. The company has also benefited from the financial planning skills, which have been realized because of unforeseen expenses and emergencies; hence, creating researches for extra use of money. The company has been able to deal with issues of unexpected expenses and emergency case because they have a well-defined financial plan; thereby, enabling them to avoid incurring losses in the long run. For instance, there have been an increasing number in uninsured and underinsured aspects in an organisation since the beginning of the year 2006. The company realized unforeseen expenses that exceeded $ 104 million in uncompensated healthcare (Henry Ford Health System, 2011). Although many healthcare organisations have continued to downsize through laying-off employees and offering earlier retirements, there is a higher indication that many people may continue to lack healthcare insurance in Detroit. However, despite these unexpected expenses, the company has continued to maintain their financial stability through employing effective financial skills. These skills have enabled them to manage effectively the supply costs across the operational management. Lighter (2011) argues that financial planning skills have a major impact on expense management and overall patient volume. Therefore, proper financial management can enable the company to continue experiencing a positive and increasing growth in patient volume. The Henry Ford Health system has been experiencing higher patient volume and effective expense management since 2005 and this is because of proper financial planning. For example, the organisation reported a net profit of 20 percent increase in the year 2010 following the net income of $30.4 million in the year 2009 (Henry Ford Health System, 2011). Patient admission also increased by 2.7 percent while other local hospitals reported patient admission of 0.9 percent (Henry Ford Health System, 2011). All these are because of the financial success, which resulted due to continuous use of a well-defined financial planning strategy and skills. Ethical Considerations That Are Relevant To Health Care Service Establishments One of the ethical considerations in relation to healthcare service establishments is the focus on ethical behavior of justice. This was through providing training about codes of conducts and offer new employees a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The accreditation medical education for all workforces also addressed healthcare ethics and business practices. Another fundamental ethical principle of beneficence was established and this required practitioners to act according to the best interest of patients. The ethical principle of informed consent also included the new and changing compliance requirements and code-training programs addressed evolving risks. The organisation leaders advanced training in business ethics and human resource legal practices. It also focused on culture training whereby ethical practices in managing behaviors and risk reporting were addressed. The organisation emphasized the need to take into consideration honesty and truthfulness. These are significant ethical aspects employed in many healthcare systems. Lastly, free and open communication across the organizational departments also is another ethical aspect that should be taken into considerations. Challenges Presented In Health Care Organizations Today One of the significant challenges facing the healthcare system is the issue of data privacy and this is where the organisation has faced many challenges in protecting information of patients. Data collection and information sharing is also among the main challenges facing healthcare providers in an attempt of automating clinical systems and medical report of patients. There are increased cases of security threats and this has contributed to offensive access to information of patients and impaired information integrity, however, despite the issue of security threats, the urgency have attempted to address them through increasing new privacy methods and employing security laws, as well as, enforcing stiff penalties to insecurity cases. There are also increased issues of data bleaching, which often turns out to be costly in any given healthcare system. According to the research study conducted by National Institute of Standards and Technology and American Society for Quality Control (2000), the cost of data breaching has significantly risen in many healthcare organisations; thereby, putting organisations at risks. Therefore, there is a need for healthcare organisations to take appropriate measures to avoid issues of incurring heavy financial losses due to data bleaching. This is because it is not only healthcare organisation that can be held liable or accountable in case of data bleaches but also healthcare professions; hence, they might lose their job. Therefore, it is vital for healthcare professions and managers to establish security measures vital for protecting their critical system and organizational data. This can be done at the same time by offering effective operation needs to enable physician to continue accessing to organizational information successfully. Providing security measures through monitoring activities and taking necessary security controls can enable the company to continue operating successfully. Learning Outcomes in Regard to Effective Communication From the research study process, I learnt that it is vital for any healthcare organisation to take effective communication into consideration. Open and free communication is among the significant ethical considerations that should be adhered to, but many organizations tend to adhere to it. Hackett (2001) argues that effective communication is vital in any business industry because it can help in reducing conflict or manage conflicts of interest that might arise in an organization. Effective communication is the key to managing conflicts; thus, organizational leaders should learn to communicate effectively across the organizations. Secondly, I learnt that effective communication is the key to successful information sharing. Staff members can share information across the organizational departments successfully in case there is proper communication. A successful communicator is the one who is able to share ideas and present information or ideas in a concise and clear manner. Effective communication and listening can enable healthcare professionals to share information with patient and organisation; thus meeting not only, the demanding needs of patients but also for organisation effectively. Lastly, I learnt that effective communication is the key towards persuading or convincing people. Therefore, to be able to persuade people, one should not only be a good communicator but also a good listener because effective listening is also vital in communication process. Good or successful leaders should employ effective communication strategy because this can enable them to persuade their followers. This can also enable them to initiate and implement varied changes that will ultimately contribute to organizational success. Alternative HSA Policy and Practice That Aligns with the Business Strategies of the Baldrige Winning Company An alternative HAS policy and practice that aligns with the corporate strategy of the Henry Ford Health System is the strategy of confidentiality and patient privacy protection. The company should employ the strategy of safeguarding significant information of patients; thus, they should employ ethical practices that align with confidentiality and privacy protection of patients. There are numerous cases that arise in many healthcare organisations that are concerned with issues of patient privacy; thus, companies need to address these issues through implementing effective strategies. Therefore, the HAS policy and practices should align with confidentiality and patient privacy protection strategies. The healthcare system can dedicate themselves to offering security to patient privacy and confidential information. When establishing HAS guidelines and practices, the company should ensure that they align with ethical aspects of patient privacy and they should also be well explained. The explanation should take into considerations the policy and practices covered, as well as, the type of information that the healthcare providers need to take into considerations. The HSA policy and practice should also align with free and open communication strategy. This is vital because free and open communication can enable patients and healthcare providers to communicate effectively, as well as share information efficiently. Prybutok, Zhang and Peak (2011) point out that policy and practice in an organization needs to show the information that a health care organization generously shares information and the reasons for sharing information. This is significant because it will help in reducing bleaches of privacy and enable the company to achieve success. The company can also follow law and they can only share or disclose information in case the law enforcement officials and regulatory authorities require them to do so. For instance, the company can share information with other affiliated healthcare systems such as Scheck Healthcare System and many others in case the law permits the company to share information. However, it is the responsibility of the company to safeguard confidentiality and privacy of patient data through employing effective security measures, which adhere to federal standards concerning securing information against obliteration, alteration and unauthorized access. Conclusion Henry Ford Health System is a non-profit entity, which is now among the foremost healthcare providers and has continually provided high quality services, which has enabled it be awarded the Baldrige award, a presidential reward for high quality and the prize program aims in helping organisations to improve the quality of their services. References Akdere, M. (January 01, 2009). The Role of Knowledge Management in Quality Management Practices: Achieving Performance Excellence in Organizations. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 11, 3, 349-361. Buchbinder, S. B., & Shanks, N. H. (2007). Introduction to Health Care Management. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Hackett, L. L. W. (2001). Strategy For Institutional Improvement: Application of Baldrige Criteria At A Selected Community College. Austin, Tex: University of Texas. Henry Ford Health System. (2011). 2011 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Application, Henry Ford Health System. Detroit, Michigan p. 1-50. Hall, R. T. (2000). An introduction to healthcare organizational ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lighter, D. E. (2011). Advanced Performance Improvement In Health Care: Principles And Methods. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. National Institute of Standards and Technology (U.S.), & American Society for Quality Control. (2000). Award criteria: Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Gaithersberg, MD: Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, National Institute of Standards and Technology. Prybutok, V., Zhang, X., & Peak, D. (September 01, 2011). Assessing the effectiveness of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award model with municipal government. Socio-economic Planning Sciences, 45, 3, 118-129. Read More