Case analysis - Assignment Example

Case Analysis Cleveland Clinic had been performing very well reporting improvement in sequential manner every financial year. This was because of the organization’s overall strategy that had been adopted in favor of improving value for the patients. This strategy incorporated reorganizing services into institutes, which were structured around organ systems and diseases instead of the traditional surgical and medical departments. This strategy has specific critical components that support it as well as their rationales and is one of the reasons why the organization was awarded highly (Exhibit 1).

The restructuring program was intended to rationalize the services across the hospital network. This was to enable the establishment of multispecialty teams that would use system-wide resources to ensure that they deliver the most appropriate care at the right place for all patients with the most appropriate cost. In the new organization, medical specialties as well as surgical specialties were located together where they would work under one leader and one budget. The advantage included that the organization could reduce the expenses as two top jobs that include Chief of Surgery and Chief of Medicine would be eliminated.

The institutes, which were critical to this reorganization procedure, included the neuroscience institute that combined psychiatry, neurology, and neurosurgery. In addition, the other two were the special expertise institutes that incorporated Imaging, Nursing, Quality and Patient Safety and Support Institutes that included Human Resources, as well as Legal and Finance. The patients’ experience was improved under the patients first slogan, which incorporated special attention to the experiences of each patient.

The rationale behind this was to improve service experience as well as collect adequate data concerning patient satisfaction that included waiting times, communication, and staff courtesy. The other critical component involved the appointment of the Chief Experience Officer with the aim of ensuring that the nurses ask the patients whether there is anything else that can be done for them while they are still in the hospital premise. This helped in alerting clinicians of additional special care needs and improved patient satisfaction (Exhibit 2).

In addition, the clinic leaders wanted to establish a culture of service in which all parties were responsible for the patient’s experience. This was enforced through employee engagement surveys to assess commitment and connection. The organization intended to ensure that it has caring caregivers, effective process, and engaged patients. Discussions on missions, values and vision were also frequent between the physicians. The organization had made significant progress in most aspects that included wellness and information systems.

The organization introduced the position of the Chief Wellness Officer whose main function was to ensure optimal health in the organization. The first initiative in this quest that was established involved smoking where the Clinic made smoking cessation classes free for all individuals not only in the institution but also in the Cuyahoga County for a period of six months in the year 2006. This effort was very effective since the county realized a twice-quit rate as compared to other areas in Ohio.

The initiative also involved a serious measure where the organization declined to hire smokers and provided smoking cessation classes to any willing employee. With regard to information systems, Cleveland Clinic had established an integrated electronic medical system through which patients could see records, make or cancel appointments and even request prescriptions. The system also supported the clinicians irrespective of their locations since it integrated the entire hospital network. MyPractice program, which provided electronic medical records improved coordination and institute care processes since it provided patient data from previous encounters in the health system from a central access point.

The care cycle view of a patient’s care was also developed to improve convenience. This is because it did not require accumulation of separate notes from different patient’s encounters. It also helped in scheduling with the right doctors and tracking of outcomes as well as scheduling of follow ups to assess how the patients were doing. In spite of the vast progress that has been made in improving the Clinic to its present state ranging from reorganization to wellness and the information systems, there were several areas of improvement.

There was a wide range of growth options in aspects that included regional, national and international areas. Each avenue in the Clinic’s development was a work in progress. This implies that there were numerous areas that required or could have performed in a better way if they were improved. For instance, to improve the performance of its various branches and expand its endeavors, the organization had the options of building, buying or even partnering with other organizations for better performance.

In addition, the institution already had proposals to form partnerships that were making the decision more challenging since there were other options available that should have been evaluated to determine the most appropriate. Although the Ohio delivery system recorded at least 3 million outpatient visits, it had the potential to expand its presence in the region of Ohio and the neighboring states. There were proposals to enter into mergers already. With regard to affiliate programs, there were opportunities for improvement as surgeons and administrators from other hospitals approached Cleveland Clinic.

The out of state hospitals brought an opportunity for concentrating on neurodegenerative diseases as well as an introduction to new communities and new regions. With respect to national telemedicine, the opportunities developed included improvement of treatment plans as well as diagnosis to help in reducing diagnosis errors. This would be possible if telemedical offerings were expanded. Moreover, there were numerous opportunities in international expansion, as the Clinic had been approached by many parties who were interested in partnerships that would enable international partnerships.

The organization used several approaches in the quest to grow and expand its practice. One of the practices includes innovation. The organization developed new and very innovative ideas that enabled most of its strategies to grow. Most of the innovation can be seen in the organization’s information systems, which the Clinic continued to develop so as to achieve more efficiency in most of its clinical operations that included and required record keeping. The other approach that the organization applied to its advantage is high levels of management practice.

This incorporated a major reorganization that the organization undertook to ensure that services are delivered in a more efficient manner. In addition, since the organization was growing rapidly, management skills were applied to determine the best methods to use in facilitating expansion such as acquisition of other organizations in the same field. Moreover, the Clinic was also committed in ensuring that there is an effective human resource management department in place, which undertook practices that included performance assessment since employees were motivated by knowing that they had improved since previous assessment.

Exhibit 1 Cleveland Clinic Awards among other institutions Exhibit 2 Patient Satisfaction Exhibit A Exhibit B Department of Pathobiology – Growth Trend