Beth Israel Medical Center as part of Continuum Health Partners - Term Paper Example

Beth Israel Medical Center The medical center was established in 1890 to cater for the Jewish immigrants who were living in New York. This was meant to ensure that the immigrants would obtain medical services, as the hospital in New York back then could not treat any patient who did not reside in the city for a duration of one year prior to seeking such medical help (David, 48). The rate at which the medical center grew is very high, affording it to expand its facilities to include a patient population of 75, 000 patients who are attended to in the 23 facilities established by the medical center. The medical center serves as a hospital and a training facility for most of medicine courses in the medical schools and Universities within its surrounding environment (Bailey, 21). The medical center is well known for its support of the medical trainees, through affording them cheap and subsidized housing, while providing them with a good pay (David, 53). In 1997, the medical center collaborated to work in partnership with other two medical institutions, the st. Luke’s Hospital and the Roosevelt hospital under the umbrella of Continuum Health Partners. This move was meant to strengthen the infrastructure of the facilities, while at the same time improving on their pool of shared resources, which would go a long way in ensuring that patients are afforded the best care (Starr, 9). The partnership was meant to increase the networking of the medical institutions extended the ability to reach the New York community health needs. The strength of the facility can be traced from the management of the Medical center, under the leadership of a chief executive officer at the top, followed by a hierarchy of leadership down to the departmental level. The leadership is organized in such a way, that there is a reporting system, which effectively enhances communication and feedbacks (Valerie, A3). This acts as a strength for the organization in that, the channels for communication are effective, an aspect necessary to enhance the smooth flow of activities. Another strength associated with the medical center is its financial management system, which is under the Executive vice president financial affairs, who is also the Chief financial officer. He oversees all the financial matters of the facility, ensuring that all the finances of the medical center are accounted for in a transparent manner. Such prudence in the financial management of the facility has enabled it become a leader is incorporating the essential and most advanced medical technologies in its operations, while affording its residential trainees competitive pay and subsidized housing (David, 63). It is the same accountability and transparency in the financial management of the medical center that has allowed it to expand and grow at a faster rate, to serve the New York in its 23-established medic al facilities. The executive vice president and chief operating officer ensures that all the operations of the medical facilities runs smoothly, while ensuring that the patients are afforded the best medical care, and the staff of the medical facility operates in a conducive working environment. This serves as a strength to attract the highly qualified and skilled medical staff to this facility, enhancing its ability to provide quality medical care for the New York community. Research has served as another of the strengths of the medical center. The facility undertakes a lot of research in the medical field, in a bid to ensure that it serves the patient population who seeks its medical help effectively. Through this research, the medical facility has afforded to provide its patients and staff with the latest and advanced technology, which ensures that the services of the medical center are excellent. The facility has incorporated advanced technology such as robotic surgery, which goes a long way in minimizing the errors associated with manual surgery, while at the same time making surgery easier for both the surgery staff and the patients (David, 97). Notable of the areas of excellence by the facility is in spine surgery, which has seen the medical center rated best. The HRM approach and policies of the medic al center, which entails competitive pay packages for its staff as well as the provision of a conducive working environment has made the facility remain one of the most respected employers. Internally, the medical center has been faced by a weakness in communication, due to the diversity of the patient population seeking its medical help. Among this population are the Jews, the Chinese and the Russians, whose culture has proved a challenge to the health services provision of the facility. However, the medical center has worked to overcome this, through enlisting the services of navigator programs and interpreters, who serves to ease the cultural barriers in the provision of services to such patients (Starr, 15). Under the external analysis, the medical facility has several strengths that have seen it emerge as a highly ranked medical services provider. Collaboration is one such strength, where the medical center has collaborated with other medical institutions, to operate under a continuum. This collaboration has served to expand the resources base of the medical facilities, through pooling their shared resources, and expanding their budgets to a tune of $2.1 billion last year (Bailey, 44). This serves to ensure that the facilities have sufficient resources to address and meet the medical needs of the patients, while accessing the requisite technologies and work force. Collaboration as a strength affords the medical facility a fully integrated network of medical services, which are essential for provision of quality care for the patients. Further collaboration has enhanced the expansion of facilities such as bed spaces, where the medical center has an access to a bed capacity of 3100, through which it can serve its patients, as opposed to 1386 beds that the facility owns (David, 102). Leadership transparency is yet another strength that the medical facility has capitalized on, to become one of the highly ranked medical facilities. The medical center is known for having a generation of transparent leaders, who has steered the facility towards its path of expansion and growth. Good leadership has afforded the facility to overcome some challenges it has faced in the past, which would have eventually seen it collapse. Technology is another strength that has been utilized by the medical center, to enhance its provision of quality health services to the patients. The facility has adopted the most advanced and state of the art medical technology, which has afforded it an opportunity to provide the patients with ease and quick services such as scanning and surgery (Starr, 22). The adoption of such technologies has afforded the medical facility rank among the top 100 providers of cardiovascular care. The medical facility also ranks among the few health facilities that operates a geriatric unit, where it treats the elderly and aged patients, making the facility a leader in innovation of health services provision for its patients. Thus, research and innovation are among the areas of strength that the medical facility can be credited with. Nevertheless, the medical center is not without some weaknesses. Financial shortage is one of such challenges that has faced the medical c enter, threatening to halt its operations (Valerie, A3). Though this has improved of late, the facility has been facing financial crisis that threatened to have it completely close down. The facility has another weakness of low quality care and safety provision for its patient. Additionally, the staff of the medical center has been observed to be demotivated and with strained relationships among themselves and even the management (David, 134). Various opportunities are open for the medical facility to exploit, so that it can overcome the weaknesses it faces. The medical facility has many opportunities for growth, through which it can utilize the advantage associated with trainee residency and collaboration with other medical institutions to expand its operations further and to other areas outside of New York (Valerie, A3). Another opportunity that can serve to strengthen the position of the medical center is by motivating and boosting the morale of its staff. The threats to this medical center includes the poor reputation that it earned earlier on, which made patients lose confidence in its ability to deliver quality medical services to them (Bailey, 70). The cultural differences between the institutions that merged with this medical facility have always threatened to inhibit the achievement of its set goals and objectives. Another threat is the staff cut that the medical center exercised after merging with the other medical institutions, which has hampered the operations of the facility due to reduced labor force. The recommendations to the medical facility include its adoption of a suitable employee reward and motivation system that will enhance the ability of the medic al staff to deliver quality services to their patients. Continuous research and innovations are also vital to steer the medical facility ahead of the others, through enhancing its ability to provide its patients with advanced services. Paramount is the fact that the whole staff community should be integrated into the financial and the strategic objectives of the medical facility, to ensure that they work towards the achievement of the medical c center’s vision and mission. Works Cited Bailey, Mathew: Prescribing the Pill: A hospital in difficulty, 1997. 20-84. Print. David, Walden. Beth Israel Medical Center as part of Continuum Health Partners, 2001. 46-154. Print. Starr, Paul. The Social Transformation of American Medicine, Basic Books, 1982. 7-25. Print. Valerie, Ulene. “Costs of over treating patients," Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2008. A3. Print. Read More