Integrated Health Care Changes - Essay Example

Integrated Health Care Changes of the of the Table of Contents Introduction 3 Context of the Change 3 Key Forces promoting the change 4 Type of change 5 Organizational Change Model 6 Strategies used to implement the Change 8 Critical Analysis of the effectiveness of the Change 10 Lessons learned from the change and conclusion 11 References 13 Introduction The behavioral health field is an important segment in the health care department as the behavioral patterns of the children as well as the adult affects their overall growth and development (Prevots, et al., 2010). It is said that the adults with behavioral health conditions contributes to the increased mortality rates as compared to the general population. The main reason behind this high mortality rate is that of the unmanaged physical and mental health conditions. However, the behavioral health disorders may also include large number of addictive disorders such as participation in extensive alcohol consumption as well as gambling. Initiatives are taken by setting up of medical homes for treating these kinds of diseases and also there is an increase in demand for the patient centered medical home in order to control the mortality rates (Cutler & Everett, 2010). The paper aims at carrying out an analysis of the effectiveness of the health care changes in the behavioral health field. Further, it would offer a scope top to understand the key forces promoting the change and also gather some information regarding the organizational change model. Context of the Change The ‘National Survey on Drug Use and Health’ shows 1.9 million youth in the age group of 12 to 17 years who have experienced depression in 2010 in US (Reid, et al., 2010). The frequency of mental illness increases when the youth moves to young adulthood. Among the adult population, the individuals with the age group between 18 and 25 are highly susceptible to mental illness with around 30% of the population suffering from the mental disorders (James & Savitz, 2011). However, the study suggests that several physical health conditions are tightly linked to behavioral health conditions and these are needed to be treated. For example, Asthma as been linked with the depression, learning disability among children as well as anxiety that further damages the physical conditions. Nonetheless, there is no significant causal relationship that has been identified between Asthma and the changes in behavioral patterns. The remarkable changes that took place in order to improve the conditions of the behavioral patterns among the children as well as the adults involve setting up of hospitals with health admission office and also conduct health evaluation related to the behavioral patterns. The hospitals also ensure that proper care is given to the patients suffering from mental disorders. New patient focused medical homes are set up to fulfill the health care needs of the individuals. The health home programs are organized by the newly set up health care homes to provide integrated care for the patients with chronic ailments and the health care homes are expected to operate with a team of physicians and well trained health care professionals (Waring & Bishop, 2010). Apart from the medical facilities, the health care team is also expected to provide care management, health promotion as well as the patient and family support. However, the health care home also plans to offer these services at cheap rates to the underprivileged population. Key Forces promoting the change There are several factors that ultimately results in the change of the health care services in the economy and the research considers some of the key drivers to the change. For example, the health care services offered to the patients demand quality as well as transparency (Radnor, Holweg & Waring, 2012). However, offering health care services at cheap rates would pose a threat among the customers related to the quality of the service and so transparency in the services offered would ensure efficiency of the health care home and the team of professional carrying out the business. The other factor related to the technological innovation that takes place within the economy that is the use of electronic health records to keep track of the patients suffering from behavioral as well as physical health disorders. It also involves the use of IT as a central component for business expansion. Further, the process of health care is accelerated by introducing digital health care groups in order to carry out real time monitoring of the patients suffering from serious disorders. The low cost techniques that deliver quality services are affordable by the patients and it leads to a positive impact of the change that took place. Further, changing the structure of the medical care model also plays a key role in the change management process undertaken by the team of physicians in the health care homes (Ting, et al., 2011). The health care model comprising of advanced techniques at low costs can prove to be beneficial to the patients and would generate a lot of revenue in the economy. The ultimate factor that can be considered important for promoting the change in the behavioral health care sector is that of rising concern about the impact of health care on the security of the nation. As the children are considered as the future of the nation, hence, it becomes important to take care of them and especially when there are abnormalities found in their behavioral pattern. Most of the young adults are found to suffer from mental disorders and hence, the health care homes are set up to take care of the patients who are expected to contribute to the nation in the future. Type of change Mostly, planned changes are beneficial to the economy and especially in the health care sectors because it has an impact on the patients as well as on the society. Planned changes are initiated after conducting a research related to the current trends and whether the change would be beneficial or not (Riley, et al., 2011). Planned changes are generally based on the data that is collected related to the total number of patients suffering from behavioral disorders and the number of adult mortality rates due to the mental disorders. Planned changes involve the strategies that are undertaken by the team of well trained physicians that would be suitable for the patients. In case of the planned change, the overall change management process is matched with the vision of the organization and the targets that are set by them (James & Savitz, 2011). However, there are challenges that the organization has to face while undertaking the planned change because the teams of physicians who undertake the change have their own opinions and there may be controversies related to the change management (James & Savitz, 2011). Further, the impact on the patients suffering from the mental disorders has to be taken into consideration while planning for the change. There are several models that the organizations are expected to follow in order to undertake a well-structured change management process within the economy. Organizational Change Model The selection of a particular model for the change management varies with different organizations and also with the various fields in which the change is to be initiated. However, for the health care sector, the transformational change is considered to be more suitable as compared to the incremental change model. According to the transformational change, there is a need to rethink about the roles and responsibilities that the team members are supposed to undertake (Gummesson, Lusch & Vargo, 2010). The process is related to the organizational culture that in turn enhances the employee performance. In case of the health care sectors, there are several responsibilities that team of physicians need to undertake and also adopt changes in the services they offer and the decision making process that they conduct. One of the famous transformation models that most of the organizations follow is that of the Kotter’s eight steps for change management. Figure 1: Kotters eight step Model followed by Arizona (Source: Gummesson, Lusch & Vargo, 2010) The steps involve establishing urgency for the change and building a team for conducting the planning process. The next steps involve setting up of the vision and the strategy and communicating the change among the other members. The barriers to the change need to be identified and the short term wins are to be considered. The ultimate step involves that the change has to be beneficial as well as sustainable (Ramalho, Brummel & Miller, 2010). However, the changes that are adopted in the health care sectors also follow the same transformation strategy in order to implement the change successfully. As the traditional techniques used for the health care in case of the behavioral disorders are unable to reduce the mortality rates and there is high inefficiency in dealing with the patients suffering from mental disorders, there is a need for a change in the management processes. This indicates the initial step as per Kotter’s analysis that involves identifying the need for change. The further change involves creating a team of physicians who are able to run the health care homes for the patients and treat those using appropriate techniques (Ramalho, Brummel & Miller, 2010). However, Arizona undertakes a survey on the individuals in order to determine the number of patients suffering from physical as well as mental disorders. The company makes up its further plans based on the information collected from the survey and the survey is generally conducted through telephonic interviews of the individuals (Ramalho, Brummel & Miller, 2010). This helps them to determine the steps needed to be followed in order to carry out a detailed analysis and bring in a change that is favorable to the concerned individual and the society. Strategies used to implement the Change ‘Arizona Department of health care’ services aims at providing health care facilities related to physical as well as behavioral health care factors. The study says that in Arizona’s health care system, the process of treatment, prevention as well as recovery are expected to use the similar type of strategies to implement the change in the process and the main difference lies in the targeted population, collaboration process and the method of implementation used by Arizona to treat the patients in a better way (Gummesson, Lusch & Vargo, 2010). However, the method of prevention relates to the individuals who are not affected by the behavioral problems, whereas, treatment targets the people who are already affected by the behavioral disorders. This in turn leads to recovery of the individuals suffering from physical as well as behavioral health care system. The strategies undertaken by Arizona involve a strategic prevention framework model followed by the department to implement the change in the health care processes and enhance the services provided by the department (Osborne & Brown, 2005; Gummesson, Lusch & Vargo, 2010). The steps comprise of assessment, capacity, planning, implementation and evaluation. The initial step deals with the assessment process of the needs and requirement of the patients suffering from the behavioral as well as physical disorders (Gummesson, Lusch & Vargo, 2010). Figure 2: Strategic Framework Model of Arizona (Source: Gummesson, Lusch & Vargo, 2010) The next step deals with the capacity to implement the change that is a change can be initiated if the department has enough funds to undertake the technological innovation. Further, the third step involves the planning process involves creating of strategic plans with goals and objectives (James & Savitz, 2011). The teams in Arizona consider a logic model in order to implement the change considering the risk factors as well as the prevention strategies that are adopted by the organization. Figure 3: Outcome based logic Model of Arizona (Source: Gummesson, Lusch & Vargo, 2010) The next step involves the implementation of the change that has been planned by the team members and the final step involves the evaluation of the changes that has been undertaken by the department for the well being of the patient suffering from physical as well as behavioral disorders (Osborne & Brown, 2005). Critical Analysis of the effectiveness of the Change Arizona health care services has been functional before the launch of Obama Care in March 23, 2010 with initiatives taken by the team of well experienced physicians to deal with the patients suffering from mental as well as physical ailments. The team members organized programs for detecting, planning and prevention of the diseases and has also undertaken cost efficient techniques in order to make the treatment affordable for the weaker sections (James & Savitz, 2011). However, Arizona is committed to developing new tools and techniques to enhance the quality of services provided by the department. After the launch of the patient protection and health care act in 2010, the team members of Arizona has developed new planning process in order to overcome the challenges of high mortality rates due to individuals suffering from asthma, depression, consumption of alcohol to a greater extent and other mental and physical disorders (James & Savitz, 2011). The Arizona health care services has developed strategic plan for the period between 2014 and 2018 and the study says that the company ensures a health care coverage of around 300000 Arizonans (Health survey, 2010). According to a study, there are around 1.8 million Arizonans who have enrolled with the program organized by the department (James & Savitz, 2011). The department undertakes three types of programs Arizona Acute Care, Arizona long term care system and kids care. The benefits of Arizona acute care program have around 93% recipients with 4% and 3% in the other two programs (James & Savitz, 2011). The Arizona acute care plan ensures that its members are enrolled with the health plans and other benefits of the plan. However, there is less than 4% of the population enrolled with Arizona long term care system with approximately 26% cost incurred by the company. Finally, the department enrolled around 36,026 children in the kids care program (James & Savitz, 2011). The figures indicate that Arizona health care services have taken initiatives for the welfare of the adults and the kids in order to improve their health status. Lessons learned from the change and conclusion The research has been conducted on the changes that are undertaken in the field of health care services and the impact on the patients suffering from physical as well as mental illness. According to the study, there is a direct linkage between the mental and the physical illness and the individuals suffer from physical disorders partially due to drug addiction, the alcohol consumption as well as suffering from depression. Arizona is a health care services company that takes initiatives for the prevention of the mental and physical disorders especially due to the alcohol consumption. After the launch of Obama care, that is an act specifying the protection and preventions of health disorders, Arizona has initiated programs for adults as well as kids to protect them from the health issues. The report has developed a learning process that entire population in the US has enrolled themselves to the programs initiated by Arizona. The study reflects that the company follows a planned process to undertake change in order to ensure effectiveness of the change management. References Cutler, D. M. & Everett, W. (2010). 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