Business Strategies for Healthcare Institutions - Essay Example

Business Strategies for Healthcare InstitutionsThe business and operational success of any healthcare institution is subject to the influence of diverse and dynamic factors. In particular, healthcare reforms affect hospitals in many different ways. When healthcare reform results in negative effects to a hospital, the director in charge should strive to enhance the position and relevance of the institution amid reform-driven changes. Key departments such as Human Resources, Finance, and Patient Care should collaborate and coordinate care delivery for improved patient welfare.

To counter the implications of healthcare reform such as losing patients, the hospital director could consider a number of business strategies. The employed strategies should subsequently take into account key stakeholders in the institution, organizational efficiency, and financial sustainability in the health care environment (Ginter, Duncan, & Swayne, 2013). Aligning healthcare reform with organizational operations is a key strategy. In essence, the idea is to make sure that the resultant reforms promote the relevance of the hospital.

To do this, the director and all other key parties could undertake care transitions, where hospital operations are redefined or redesigned to accommodate key benefits realized from healthcare reform.It is important for hospital management to create healthcare value through payor relationships and revenue models. In other words, hospitals could create value and promote patient welfare through bundled payments, offering low cost incentives, and enhancing quality of care (Pynes & Lombardi, 2011).

While the objective is to improve the performance of finance, human recourse, and patient care departments, it is critical to account for all stakeholders influential to the institution. On the same note, it is important to note that the priority focuses on patient care, over and above striving to improve the long-term welfare of the healthcare institution. Efficiency, sustainability, and strong relationships in the healthcare environment translate to affordable care, increased access to services, and community engagement in hospital operations (Olden, 2011).

Both internal and external hospital environments play an influential role in healthcare matters. When the community becomes engaged, the hospital builds an environment of loyalty and trust. Subsequently, the community becomes an ambassador of the hospital in selling its operations and performance. This internal-external interconnection allows key hospital departments to treat patients and the surrounding communities as integral elements of the hospital’s operations.Other hospitals, physicians, and healthcare systems also influence the success of any given healthcare institution (Ginter, Duncan, & Swayne, 2013).

Following this observation, it is important to build close and strong relationships with these parties. Doing so would allow a hospital with reducing patient numbers access more opportunities that stand to benefit its business performance. The idea here is to learn to work with other players within the same environment of operation. Such a strategy, however, would require adequate personnel training and/or industry-based contracts of one type or another.Finally, a hospital that seeks to improve efficiency, develop a sustainable financial portfolio, and build functional relationships among stakeholders ought to invest in technology (Ginter, Duncan, & Swayne, 2013).

This is because new and advanced technologies have revolutionized healthcare practices. Technology addresses cost, access, and quality concerns in care provision, thereby making it a reliable strategy and a suitable alternative in a dynamic healthcare setting.ReferencesGinter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2013). The Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations (7th Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass.Olden, P. C. (2011). Management of Healthcare Organizations: An Introduction. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.Pynes, J. E.

, & Lombardi, D. N. (2011). Human Resources Management for Health Care Organizations: A Strategic Approach. New York: John Wiley & Sons.