Health Care Management Program - Essay Example

? Health Care Management Program: Draft Interview Assignment Dolores V. Rogers-900632091 Management Principles in Health Care, HCM 3020-003 Professor Garrett M. Chism September 26, 2013 According to Buchbinder and Shanks, Healthcare Management (HCM) can be defined as the use of clinical and information technology, as well as managerial and leadership skills to ensure the optimal delivery of healthcare. When we talk about healthcare management, we actually mean talking about the ways to improve the provision of healthcare facilities to patients. Effective healthcare management is essential for improving the wellbeing of citizens. Healthcare management includes a variety of elements that work together to ensure health recovery of patients. For example, some of the main services included in the field of healthcare management are preventative care, emergency services, and follow-up and rehabilitation. Without effective management, the coordination of healthcare services and improvement in the health of patients is not possible (Buchbinder S., Shanks N., 2012). Therefore, healthcare practitioners and concerned authorities need to design an effective healthcare management system in order to ensure provision of best health facilities to people. This course is set up to explain the definition of healthcare management and the roles a healthcare manager represents within the industry. A healthcare manager has the most critical role to play in ensuring the wellbeing of patients. He/she is the one who is responsible for provision of the highest quality health services to patients using all available resources. The purpose of this assignment to gain an insight into the way a health care manager effectively uses their resources related to finance, human retention, human resources, and strategic services. The goal of this assignment given to us is to gain an insight into the way healthcare managers understand their professional practice in terms of a business, as well as to know what efforts they can do to improve the health of patients. According to the Healthcare Human Resources Management textbook, business knowledge is the understanding of the industry; of the organization’s business; and how their revenue is generated. The manager of any particular business needs to have an in-depth understanding of all core issues related to the business, as well as of all internal and external business issues in order to run the business successfully. The manager is the person who is mainly responsible for all ups and downs of the business. Therefore, managers must be competent enough to ensure growth of the business. In case of healthcare industry, the managers of healthcare organizations need to have all leadership skills and abilities, as well as advanced professional experience to accomplish the organization’s goals, objectives, and mission successfully (Flynn et al. 2007). To complete this assignment, I visited Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHC) on Monday, September 23, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. to interview Ms. Dianna Webb who is the Business Manager of the said organization. During interview, I discussed and understood her professional duties and responsibilities in her current position at Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHC) located at 13123 East 16th Avenue, B300, Aurora, CO 80045. Ms. Webb’s direct line is (303) 724-2357. Ms. Webb’s educational background includes a BS in Biology from Michigan State University where she set her professional goals to become an OBGYN. However, after shadowing her brother’s pathway to become a physician, she decided to go for something else. Therefore, she began working on obtaining a master’s degree at Cornell to help her professional track with a position in midlevel or executive hospital management where she could lead a department. Her professional job responsibilities at this position include planning budgets, evaluating staff, writing and overseeing quality and patient services. She further told me that she entailed more responsibilities while moving up with her career. For example, she acted as a liaison between governing boards and staffs, attended fund-raisers and conventions, and stayed on top of advances in medical equipment and treatments. She told me that he wanted to find a mix between managerial roles and healthcare management because of which she opted to work as a business manager even when she also had other job offers to think about. She continued telling me that her advanced education opened up more ways for her related to her professional career. For example, her advanced degree expanded her choice to work in hospitals, private practice, nursing homes, insurance companies, and government agencies educating providers of new rules and regulations, or coordinate public health departments (Webb, personal communication, September 23rd, 2013). When I inquired her about the mission of her organization, she said that the main features of the Children’s’ Hospital Colorado basically are to care for children using the highest quality of coordinated programs, to provide generous service to patients using nursing education, to research for new treatments and provide advocacy for patients, and to improve community health for our children. Ms. Webb told me that it was because of the mission and vision of the organization that she opted to work for this organization as a Business Manager in Clinical Genetics. When I asked Ms. Webb about her professional duties and responsibilities, she told me that some of her main duties include creating department goals, strategies for achieving them, and communicating this information to all employees. She told me that identifying and setting organizational goals and objectives and communicating them to the employees so that they can work to achieve them are two of her main job responsibilities. At present, her focus is mainly on problem solving and strategic thinking. One of her current projects is finding a logical solution to increase outpatient numbers; both actual patient count and revenue. These are pretty typical duties for most health service managers. I also inquired her about the most challenging aspects of healthcare management in response of which she told me that one of her most challenging aspects of management is holding standards of behavior and maintaining professional boundaries across the board. She told me that one needs to be fully committed to honesty and integrity, whether it is with patients and families, employees, healthcare providers, third-party payers, regulatory agencies, vendors, or the community. She stressed on the value of honesty and commitment by saying that these attributes build the foundation upon which organizational values and cultures are built and style is respected by peers and staff. During the interview, I also inquired her about the way she interacts and behaves with her employees. In response to this, she told me that she motivates employees towards success, as well as towards the mission of the hospital. She told me that she maintains friendly relations with her employees in order for them to feel free of any sort of managerial pressure and work with full attention towards their job tasks. She identifies employee attributes, traits, and abilities by maintaining eye contact and being a good listener. She is also a good leader who identifies the needs of employees and the organization and works with full commitment to fulfill those needs. She expresses interest in her employees and values them, however, refrains from discussing personal problems or criticizing others or former employees. She appreciates her employees for good work by expressing thanks to them and encouraging them. Lastly, she keeps patients and families, employees, healthcare providers, and the community up to date on healthcare topics and issues which speaks volumes because changes to regulations and polices happen so quickly. Some of the best mentors and leadership role models whom she has worked with at prior institutions have helped excel Ms. Webb in providing her with a plethora of best practices, creating learning environments, and pushing her limits and boundaries. She seems to be very grateful for that. I also inquired her about her plan in the next five years in response of which she said that opportunities for advancement are always available in the field of healthcare management that can be achieved by getting a graduate level degree. In short, she said that she is looking to advance to a director position in the next five years. Summing it up, I would say that I am glad that I spoke to Ms. Webb. At present, I am a Financial Analyst and would like to expand my role into a healthcare management position at a medical center and manage a department. In the past I enjoyed supervising and mentoring and there’s never a dull day in a medical center – the politics always change, technology changes, and the policies and procedures are always evolving. I excel in problem solving and strategic thinking. I can pick apart the problem and look for logical solution. Moreover, I also have the ability to change with the changing health care management. Considering these skills and abilities, I am fully confident that I will attain some good position in the field of healthcare management at some point in future. Work Cited Buchbinder, S., and Shanks, N. Introduction to Health Care Management. Jones & Bartlett Learning, Second Edition, 2012, P. 22. Flynn, W.J.; Mathis, R.L. and Jackson, J.H. (2007) Healthcare Human Resources Management. (2nd ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson Southwestern. Webb, D. (2013, September 23) Personal Interview. Read More