Health Care Management - The Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association - Assignment Example

Health Care Management HA330 1. Select an organization that you are familiar with and conduct a brief systematic assessment. Identify its mission and use the SWOT approach to complete your assessment. Systematic analysis of Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association using SWOT approach The Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association is a nonprofit making organization based in the state of Alaska. The mission of the health care organization is to be the major collaborator in the providence of supportive services to people living with HIV/AIDS within the state of Alaska. The supportive services are also extended to the families of these persons living with HIV/AIDS. The mission also includes eradication of the transmission of the HIV infection and stigma associated with the HIV/AIDS (Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association, n.d.). Strengths The organization is well equipped with both full and part-time employees and a considerable number of volunteers. Full time employees are well trained, the part time employees are semi trained and the volunteers have varying skills that assist in the running of the organization. Their main source of finance is from donors and they have quite a number of donors, with over 5, 000 donors. The donors make their contributions in a constant manner and from the current situation, there are unlikely to pull out. To meet the mission statement of the organization, it offers supportive services to over 300 persons living with HIV/AIDS and their families. The operations include case management services, education and prevention. The organization targets most people in the population and their services are not limited to the mentioned ones. Weaknesses Their resources are limited and can not cover a bigger population. They can only offer assistance to 300 families and the number of infected people in Alaska is over 1, 000. The prevention program is too narrow only reaching a few of the Alaska population, the population of Alaska is quite big and more efforts are needed to cater for this population. The capacity of accommodation for the HIV/AIDS infected people in the organization is too small. Those who need extra supportive services can not be accommodated in this facility because of the few spaces available. Opportunities Alaska is a big state and the population is large. Funds to expand the organization can be tapped from the population. This means that with better strategies, the organization can expand its facilities. With the advancement of technology, the organization can venture into newer methods of offering supportive services to the clients. Simulations can also be of great help to reach a wider population over the internet. Threats Advocating for use of condoms as HIV infection preventive measure, is under criticism by many religious organizations and affiliated groups. This is a major setback in the reducing the number of HIV infections in Alaska. Threat of emerging diseases is compromising the efforts of eradicating HIV/AIDS in Alaska. Funds are diverted towards treatment of these diseases and supportive measures will tend to go down in the organization. Design of Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association The organization has full time and part time employees, and a number of volunteers. The number of staff and volunteers total to around 100 people. The number is not constant due to volunteers. 2. Consider an organization you are familiar with, have or are currently working in. Can you define at least one problem in its design? What are the symptoms of the problem? What could have been done to solve the problem? The number of trained staff that can take care of the patients is less than 20. There is a problem in the structure and the number of staffs and volunteers. The limited number of trained staffs may be due to the limited resources of the organization and the level of funding. The accommodation facilities are minimal meaning that the number of patients that can be taken care of at a time is quite few. As per 2009, the organization could accommodate up to 16 patients (Homeless Veterans Service, 2009). Supportive measures offered to these patients are quite limited because the organization is involved in many other activities other than supportive measures. The care that is supposed to be offered is quite limited. Campaigns for the prevention of HIV infection are not that effective. Solutions The first solution is to increase the number of trained staffs. This can be done through sourcing for more funds to cater for the extra staff. At least every trained staff should offer services to around 5 persons living with HIV/AIDS and their families. This will also increase the efficacy of the campaigns for prevention of HIV infection. The second solution is to expand the accommodation facilities of the organization. These facilities offer assistance to low income and homeless people, and people infected with HIV/AIDS. This will not only increase the number of patients getting supportive measures but also improve the monitoring of these patients. This can be achieved through the media and proposals to the Alaska state government. The third solution is to keep on changing the design of the organization to match up with competition from the other organizations. This can be done through learning from the organization past experiences of redesigning (Stanford, 2005). From the experiences, the organization can improve on the major setbacks and make the running of the organization smooth and efficient. In this case, the health care organization will offer better supportive services. 3. Under what circumstances would you agree with someone who said that alliances are very risky between the involved parties? Strategic alliances are formal relationships that are established between parties with an aim of achieving goals that have been agreed on by the parties involved. Strategic alliances are established to meet critical organizational needs as the two businesses maintain their independent identities. Partners to a strategic alliance may share a number of resources including distribution channels, products, funds, capital equipment, expertise, intellectual property and manufacturing capabilities. The main aim of entering strategic alliances is to synergize the parties involved in their bid to achieve their respective goals and missions. In every business, risk management is of great importance. There are certain circumstances that make strategic alliances risky. This is more so the case considering that engaging in an alliance is generally a risky strategy. The two main risks that are faced by alliances are performance risks and relational risk. Relational risk comes into being when the consequences and likelihood of the partners involved satisfactory cooperation is low. Performance risk on the other hand occurs when the likelihood and consequences that the goals of the alliance are not going to be achieved are high. Parties should consider it too risky to engage in an alliance if the alliance is not critical to the objective of one or both organizations. This is so considering that alliances are formed for mutual benefit of the two organizations. Furthermore, where there is no trust between the parties involved in an alliance, the venture becomes very risky considering that trust is a foundation for the establishment of every alliance. When executives fail to sponsor an alliance, there are high chances of the alliance failing. In such a case, the alliance becomes too risky to engage in. This is also the case when one party seeks to unduly exploit the other party to the alliance by diverting resources, posing a risk to its intellectual property or endangering it by revealing sensitive information to the public. 4. Are there alliances that are compatible with each other? What would have been their motivation to succeed? While alliances are normally between particular parties, sometimes organizations that are party to an alliance may wish to form an alliance with organizations that are party to another alliance. The compatibility of two such alliances determines much if the grand alliance will succeed. There are several compatible alliances that exist among businesses across the world. Indeed there exist global alliances, their very nature being more delicate than the simple alliances. Global strategic alliances normally exist between two or more companies that operate beyond geographical or territorial borders and across industries. Some of the motivations behind compatible alliances include the need to avoid import barriers, and to overcome licensing requirements among other unfavorable legislations. They may also be motivated by the need to access particular markets, to share costs such as those involved in research, to reduce political risk and to take advantage of synergy. 5. Change can come in the form of technical change, transition change (change in mission and goals, but not the essential means or work processes), or transformation (change in the structure and processes of the organization). Which of these three changes would you consider to be most critical for organizational success? Why? Technical change involves the overall process of innovation, invention and diffusion of processes and technology. Technical change is important in that it ensures that the organization does not operate using outdated methods, tools, equipment but rather adopts more efficient processes. Outdated technology may render the business unprofitable especially in the event that the market has competitors that rely on modern and efficient technologies. Adopting technological change may be costly, but companies may not survive in the current world without adopting new technologies and working within industry standards. Transition change is concerned with transforming the mission and goals of the business without interfering with its working processes. It is important for an organization to keep its objectives and mission updated and fulfilled. With changing times and environment, the organization may end up with missions and goals that are out of date which means that the organization may end up operating in the wrong direction. When this becomes the fate of the business, there is a high chance that it will operate ineffectively and may end up making serious losses. When the business changes its processes and structure, a business is said to undergo transformation. Transformation is important if the organization has to maintain its profitability and efficiency in a competitive market. Some of the transformational changes are done to improve quality, to reduce costs and to stay on top of competition all of which are important for the business. If the business fails to accept transformation in certain cases, its is bound to go out of business. Beyond doubt change is important in business. All the three types of change are important to the business especially considering the state of the market. Without taking the necessary measures to adapt to any kind of change, the business risks going under. 6. Is the American health care system resistant to change? Yes, or no? Give arguments on both sides of this question. The United States has a well established health care system in which various players provide the services needed by their clients. The private sector plays a major role in the health sector as health care providers and as providers of health insurance services. The federal government also plays a big role in the healthcare system in that it has established public healthcare programs including Children’s Health Insurance Programs, Medicaid, TRICARE, Medicare, as well as the Veterans Health Administration. Indeed, the government’s programs cover about 83 million people which accounts for 28% of the population. With the reform introduced by the Obama administration regarding the United States’ health care system, many believe that significant change will occur. This is so considering that the health care reform bill is pegged on providing near-universal coverage of all American citizens. Some experts argue that this new measure will ensure that the monopoly previously enjoyed by some large healthcare providers in the country will be dissolved to a significant level. This in effect will ensure better price regulation of the market. Some critics have reasoned that the US healthcare system is not subject to change. This argument is based on the fact that the healthcare system is a market with a lot of restrictions as noted by (Dbaron 1998). Insurance companies and healthcare providers are profit seekers, relatively few in number. On the other hand, consumers of the services that the aforementioned players provide are numerous therefore lack the capacity to make free choice. This being the case, the service providers are bound to continue enjoying the monopoly they currently have. Furthermore, consumers may not be able to register complaints or discontent with the insurance plans since it is not easy to change plans. 7. Using a health care organization that you know well, provide three examples each for structural, process, and outcome measures of effectiveness. Johns Hopkins Hospital is one hospital that is credited with being a high quality healthcare service provider. In order to be considered an effective service provider in the healthcare industry, there are quite a number of measures that the organization must take. Johns Hopkins Hospital has put in place several strategies to measure its effectiveness. These are briefly discussed below: Structural Measures The environment in which Johns Hopkins Hospital operates is quite well guarded and maintained. In terms of physical facilities, the hospital has modern equipment that are used for treating various illnesses. The medical staff and nurses that serve the hospitals are well vetted before being employed by the hospital. This means that the employees are well qualified and are up to their tasks. The hospital also has an organizational structure that ensures great efficiency. This means that the management does its work effectively and does its best to ensure that the hospitals operations are smooth. Process Measures Johns Hopkins Hospital is keen on ensuring that medical operations are done properly and in line with international standards. The hospital ensures that all its medical staff complete periodical reviews. Further more, other medical practitioners in the hospital observe and give feedback on their peers’ activities. The hospital also maintains up-to-date records and does mortality reviews while continuously training its staff. Outcome Measures Johns Hopkins Hospital applies a number of outcome assessment strategies to ensure that it remains on track in its endeavor to restore health to patients. The hospital for example uses perinatal mortality, Risk Adjusted Outcome Measures (RAMO) and as measure of effectiveness and turnover time in getting medical attention once a patient is within the hospital compound. 8. React to the statement: No margin, no mission. Should a health care organization focus on quality or financial security? Please discuss in detail. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are continuously faced with the challenge of providing quality care to their patients, maintaining the overall costs low, and making some profit. The tension that exists between providing quality care and maintaining a profit margin is beyond measure in some cases. The main objective of healthcare organizations is to restore people’s health. Going against this core objective is unethical and also contravenes the missions of most, if not all, hospitals. On the other hand, hospitals sometimes have to survive with meager resources at their disposal which makes them incapable of meeting their needs and fulfilling their missions. With operation costs continuously on the rise, hospitals must do a lot to ensure that they maintain their balance and security. Without making profits, hospitals are bound to go down losing their capability the very societies or communities that they so seek to serve. In order to maintain and possibly improve their services, healthcare organizations need to make some profits. However, the profits that they make should not be made without due reason. In other words, at all costs, hospitals must maintain high quality first of all before thinking about the margins. In this regard, it must be said that the core objective of the hospital which is providing quality care must take precedence over the profit making objective. 9. Interact with your instructor via e-mail, chat or Skype. Describe your ability to respond to change and what tactics you use to cope with change. This is a graded activity. Change is something that is unavoidable. This really means that both individuals and organizations must appreciate and adapt to the changes that occur in their environments. As an individual, In appreciate that changes musty always occur in life. Trying to resist change in many cases can result in adverse effects. Having this in mind, I am always ready to change. In order to adapt to changes, I normally face the fears and challenges that are presented by changes, and make attempts to deal with them rationally. Change also comes with stress which I deal with depending on its cause and effects. In some cases, I resist change – especially when it impacts my life negatively. In general, I normally analyze change and either adapt to it or resist it depending on its potential effects to me. I prefer to rest and exercise to deal with stresses associated with change. References Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association. (n.d.). Our mission statement. Alaska: Author. Homeless Veterans Service. (2009). A guidebook for Alaska’s incarcerated veterans. Alaska: Author. David C. Mowery, Joanne E. Oxley, Brian S. Silverman, Strategic Alliances and Interfirm Knowledge Transfer (1996) Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, Special Issue: Knowledge and the Firm (Winter, 1996), pp. 77-91 Dbaron (1998) Problems with the American Health Care System. Retrieved 6th November, 2010 http://dbaron.org/views/health.html Kirkland E. Davis E. and Harrhy J. (2002) “Corporate investing: strategic alliance issues and considerations”, Venture Capital Review, Issue 8,National Venture Capital Association.Rigsbee, Ed (2000). Developing Strategic Alliances, First Edition. Library of Congress Stanford, N. (2005). Organization design: The collaborative approach. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. Read More