Financial Analysis of DBMS in Health and Social Care Organizations in Hong Kong - Essay Example

Managing Finance in Health and Social Care Organizations An financial analysis of DBMS in Health and Social Care Organizations Executive Summary Hong Kong’s health care system does need reforms. There were various proposals on reforms needed ever since Hong Kong was turned over the China mainland after the British relinquished it control over the island-port. While Hong Kong’s government is able to provide medical needs and requirements at present it may not be able to keep up with subsidizing health and medical services within its private and public sectors while its citizens pay meager costs for quality service. It is then recommended that one way to minimize cost is through the installation of computers to improve access to second opinions and to save time and manpower expenses without sacrificing the quality of service being rendered. This research paper studies the options available for database management system for Health and Social Care Organizations. Introduction One improvement needed is the proper communication between the public and private health sectors of Hong Kong. There is an actual need to establish a computer system that has the ability to contain medical records and data about patients. This computer system must be able to deliver or send needed information from one health care facility to another in various locations where it is needed. This would reduce waiting time and expenses on the part of the patients, and would improve the efficiency of service provided by medical practitioners. In relation to the above mentioned need, after Hong Kong’s transition over to the Chinese mainland, there have been some proposed reforms on its health care system. At present Hong Kong’s public health care sector is subsidized by the government. And since it is supported by one of the lowest tax regimes currently existing in the world, the Hong Kong government is giving good consideration on having revamps implemented on the overhaul of its entire health care system. Reforms are needed in order to continue the provision of an effective health care program (Taylor, n.d.) To be able to get ready for such a change, the clinic where I am currently employed needs to have an updated computer that is internet enabled, to facilitate efficient communication and information exchange. Strategic context Hong Kong’s current health care system is made up of two sectors, the public sector and the private sector. The public health care sector is managed by the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority. The Department of Health provides preventive and outpatient services, while the Hospital Authority manages approximately 40 public hospitals, 50 specialist outpatient clinics and 10 general outpatient clinics (Taylor, n.d.) While the objective of the public health care system is to provide sufficient medical and health care services to all Hong Kong citizens with varying income brackets (Taylor, n.d.), the public health care sector is burdened with overwhelming workloads and financial insecurity. On the other hand the private sector is badly affected by Asia’s economic crisis. Hence, the time has come for the government to develop and implement needed changes within Hong Kong’s health care system. Moreover, using the PESTLE as an analytical tool is essential to analyze if a recommended change is feasible or not. PESTLE stands for political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and environmental (CIPD, 2008: 1-2). Hence, in the suggestion that a computerize base of communication and storage of patient data consideration is undertaken on the laws and regulations within Hong Kong. The need to know the limitations of such strategy or procedure should conform with duly legalized statutes. Understanding the political clime within Hong Kong is likewise mandatory to perceive advantageous opportunities for such proposed improvements The second aspect of PESTLE is economic. Up to date economic changes are needed in the consideration of any desired changes. While the economy of a certain country could be going strong for the moment, most economies are affected by recession or inflation that may affect GDP growth. Low interest rates could be advantageous if proposed reforms are undertaken on borrowings or loans. While Hong Kong may have a strong economic stand at the moment, perception of individual spending should be accounted for in order to be able to predict if people are willing to spend more than they already are. Sociologically speaking, people are more concern on their physical well-being and on their future after retirement. A study should be mandated by the Hong Kong government as to whether its citizens are willing to pay more for the medical services they are currently receiving or they are more bent on saving their money for retirement and other life luxuries. While health conscious, people change attitudes and behaviour overtime in order to accommodate cultural norms and expectations. Career changes are also seen to change attitudes and these may affect current perceptions on how things will eventually evolve and change for the future. Technological is another aspect that is considered when using the PESTLE. When recommending a change from manual operation to computer state of the art operation, it is best to keep in mind that technology changes every two years and how this would affect products and services offered. New technologies are continuously being developed and so are changes of financial schemes are likely to be thought of in having outsourcing and insourcing types of services. Legal pertains to what is actually happening within the legislative bodies of a country. This may affect current labour practices, access to necessary materials, resources, taxation and import/export rules and regulations. Environmental factors are relevant to what is currently happening to the ecological and environmental aspects. Most of these factors will be economic and social in nature. In relation to PESTLE the need to use the SWOT (Chapman, 2005: 1) is also necessary to predict whether a proposed change is viable or not. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. For the strengths one needs to know the advantages of a proposition, its competitive advantages, resources, assets, financial reserves, innovative aspects, price, value and quality, etc. For the opportunities criteria of SWOT assessment of the following is needed: market developments, competitor’s vulnerability, industry or lifestyle trends, technology development and innovation, global influences, business and product development, partnerships, agencies, distributions, volumes, production, economies, etc. For the weaknesses criteria a study must be made on: the disadvantages of the proposal, lack of competitive strength, reputation, presence and reach, time scales, cashflow, start-up-cash drain, reliability of data, accreditations, etc. And for the threats criteria, before a proposal is enforced, the following should be analyzed: political effects, legislative effects, environmental; e4ffects, market demand, new technologies and services, sustainability, obstacles faced and sustainable financial backing. Options Available If we talk about the options available to keep medical records and data about patients upto the limit of 10,000 GB are (A) Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition from HP Integrity Superdome/Dual-Core Itanium/1.6 GHz (B) IBM DB2 Warehouse 9.5 from IBM System p 570 (C) Oracle Database 10g R2 Enterprise Edt w/Partitioning from HP Integrity Superdome-DC Itanium2/1.6GHz/64p/128c, and (D) Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition from HP Integrity Superdome. Although Hong Kong’s health care industry is one of the best in the world, the lack of communication and proper coordination between the public and private health care sectors poses as a problem. Patient records and other pertinent data are not readily available for private doctors even through the Hospital Authority makes said records available between its major hospitals. Thus, after being discharged patients are generally “on their own” (Taylor , n.d.: 17). This normally leads to inefficiency of service and care deterioration when the patient shuttles from public to private health care sectors and back again. This scenario duplicates services due to the lack of information and knowledge gained on a patient’s medical history. Therefore, a good kind of communication system is needed in order to continuously provide the medical and health care benefits Hong Kong residents were used to. Operational Summaries and Costs (Current) 10,000 GB Results Rank Company System QphH Price/QphH System Availability Database Operating System Date Submitted Cluster 1 HP Integrity Superdome/Dual-Core Itanium/1.6 GHz 208,457 27.97 US $ 09/10/08 Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition HP-UX 11.i v3 64 bit 03/10/08 N 2 IBM System p 570 343,551 32.89 US $ 04/15/08 IBM DB2 Warehouse 9.5 IBM AIX 5L V5.3 10/15/07 Y 3 HP Integrity Superdome-DC Itanium2/1.6GHz/64p/128c 171,380 32.91 US $ 04/01/07 Oracle Database 10g R2 Enterprise Edt w/Partitioning HP-UX 11i v3 64 bit 11/30/06 N 4 HP Integrity Superdome 63,650 38.54 US $ 08/30/08 Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Intanium based Systems 02/27/08 N Option Appraisal Option A Option B Option C Option D Benefit Criteria Weight Score Weight & Score Score Weight & Score Score Weight & Score Score Weight & Score Quality 30 8 240 5 150 3 90 2 90 Access 15 6 90 4 60 2 30 2 30 Staffing 20 8 160 7 140 5 100 5 100 Quality of environment 20 9 180 8 160 6 120 6 120 Acceptable 15 6 90 9 135 8 120 8 120 Total 100 760 645 460 460 From the table we can see that Option (A) is the best suitable option for the health care and social organizations. Cost Benefit Analysis Option Price/QphH Benefit Weight Benefit/ Cost Cost/ Benifit A 27.97 US $ 760 27.17197 0.036803 B 32.89 US $ 645 19.61082 0.050992 C 32.91 US $ 460 13.97751 0.071543 D 38.54 US $ 460 11.93565 0.083783 If we look at the cost benefit table we can find out that option (A) Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition from HP Integrity Superdome/Dual-Core Itanium/1.6 GHz is the best option available for the health care and social organizations. Implementation and Evaluation Plan In order to integrate the proposed computerized system within the clinic’s actual day to day operation, the existing staff must be briefed on the necessity of an upgraded kind of operation that includes internet and sophisticated computer equipment. After the briefing, the management must schedule a seminar regarding the use of computer technology in the workplace. Next comes the actual hands on training, where half of the staff force or personnel are being taught on how to work on the computer system while the other half of the work force is attending to the daily operation which is still presently on the manual type of operation. After all the staff has been taught the needed technical know-how, a scheduled input of data into the computer database shall commence at a steady and moderate pace to ensure that all the required information are encoded properly. After all pertinent records have been saved within the computers’ database program; a scheduled run of the new system shall be implemented for one whole week to test its viability and efficiency in storing and sending of records. It would also test the software’s ability to send immediate and voluminous reply when needed. Once the one week trial run has ended, management and staff should have a meeting where the agenda is to verify the effectiveness of the newly installed computers. Discussion will center on time efficiency and effective communication based on the outcome of the one week trial run. Recommendation The citizens of Hong Kong are demanding for changes or reforms in the health care system that is currently being provided by the government. However, people are not willing to pay more than what they have been paying for the medical and health care services given for the past years. It is inevitable that should changes occur the public although unwilling at the moment should consider paying more for their medical requirements. Being subsidized by a government who may have been running and still running a good economy will at some point in time in the future be unable to cope up with the high demands and costs of answering its citizen’s health welfare. While its true that implementation of such reforms should not sacrifice the quality of service given both in the public and private sectors, it is imperative that the costs to offset such expenses must come from somewhere (Taylor, n.d.: 19-20). Concern is given to the sectors who earn low incomes, since they will be unable to seek medical services and pay for the cost while deterring the wealthy from taking advantage of the situation, the government should device a plan or scheme to keep costs and other expenses low on medical and health care services. The implementation of a computerized and network based of storing and sending of patient clinical data will at least minimized the cost of traveling expenses for the patients who live far off from the city’s business center. It would also lessen the unnecessary repetition of clinical procedures that would likely costs double. While it’s true that the introduction of new technology within the health care industry could be costly at first, the benefits that would be derived in the long run outweigh the initial cost expenditures in terms of paying manpower and substantially increasing access to needed data. Reflective Statement 1. What have you learned about finance and economics? I learned that economics plays a vital role on how countries and governments are managed by their respective leaders. Finance and economics provided me with an insight on the effects of business developments and global economy on the various sectors of economy. It helped me understand the important decisions made by individuals, corporations and governments based on human behavior, beliefs structure, constraints and needs (Taylor, n.d.: 1). Since economics is a very diversified study, it also helps me understand why there are countries more developed than others, and why people of more developed and industrialized countries enjoy more benefits from their own governments. 2. How did you learn best? (learning theory) I learned best through the use of constructivism, wherein I was able to learn and build new ideas based on current and past knowledge where the experience could be categorized as the best teacher. By using the constructivism form of learning theory, I was given the chance to explore various kinds of learning materials like books, newspapers and through the World Wide Web. 3. How have your attitudes changed about the topic? At first, I thought that it was the government’s problem to provide the basic needs of its people without having to change the way things were since the people got used to the system and has served majority of the citizen’s health care needs proficiently. What I failed to realized is that, the government alone cannot answer for all the needs of its people if the people within a country do not like to adhere to change. It is true that change brings unwanted things like spending more for a personal need and changing one’s lifestyle in order to accommodate the change. However, for life has to go on we must face realities. For the improvement of health care organizations within a country, the people and their respective governments should work in unity to achieve a common goal and this could be achieve by properly addressing the concerns of the masses and implementing reforms that would answer such concerns. However, changes need consent and while many would be unlikely to see the advantages in the beginning but would soon realize that the pros outnumber the cons. Living a good life today could change drastically by tomorrow and it is important for people to realize that nothing really stays the same. And in order to survive pending crisis either personal or societal, we must always give the benefit of the doubt and do our best to help ourselves and others in any way we can. 4. How may you act differently now and in the future? Based on the research and study I made, I may act differently now and in the future by primarily examining all the facts before acting on a certain problem. It pays to be able to know all the pros and cons of a certain issue before one passes judgment or make certain decision that could affect not only one person but an entire community. Thinking twice before putting a thought in motion is better than deciding to act without any though of the consequence. References Chapman, Alan. 2005. SWOT Analysis Template. 25 August 2008 . CIPD Pestle Analysis. 2008 March. PESTLE Analysis 23 August 2008 Read More