Readiness of United Healthcare in Addressing the Needs of Citizens - Essay Example

Lecturer: Introduction United health care is focused on providing services to people through an organizational culture that emphasizes on value and quality. For this to be accomplished the organization strives to engage in ethical business that promotes quality and integrity. Innovations are also critical to help in the improvement of healthcare services and also improve organizational efficiency for sustainability. Strategic human resource approaches are necessary to promote employee satisfaction as well as to enhance life-long learning that is beneficial to the organization in the long-run. This paper discusses the readiness of United Healthcare in addressing the needs of citizens in the next decade. It also includes a strategic plan that addresses issues pertaining to organizational growth, nurse staffing, resource management, and patient satisfaction. United Healthcare Plan for the Next Decade The company has been successful in displaying high competency levels with regards to its inclination to increase the quality of healthcare services. Incorporation of lasting financial, environmentally friendly and community focused approaches in the organization’s corporate strategy has promoted the endeavors to achieve competitiveness in the global business environment through strong brand name. The organization adopted an approach that covers the entire system that comprises a continuum of deterrence of disease and care once the disease has occurred. Wellingham (2005) argues that determinants of disease are wide ranging, which are affected by socio-cultural and financial capability of the population in question such as hindrance to the amount and quality of care and hence the need for the systems approach to healthcare management. The strong brand equity will help the organization to maintain customers and hence return on investment, which is necessary for shareholder value and sustainability. Customer relationship management provided by Oracle has taken center stage in the organization’s operations. It has helped the organization to nurture customer loyalty while on the other hand promoting efficiency in the utilization of resources with regards to tracking customer satisfaction in the long-run. For example McKay (2010) notes that the CRM system navigation has been simplified through the application of the new Oracle software. Information entry has also been made easier while on the other hand the maintenance costs have decreased by over 30%. The new system is user friendly and the user adoption rate is expected to rise. All these aspects have augmented the health care staff’s capability in with regards to dealing with their clients. Innovations are expected to enhance the organization’s capacity to address the healthcare needs of consumers regardless of their position along the healthcare band. New efforts are focused on lowering the healthcare costs thereby enhancing access to healthcare by as many people as possible. The organization’s recent clinical packages are concentrated towards health education and awareness creation to ensure that people play a role in managing their own health. According to Rubenfeld & Scheffer. (2006), ignorance is a major hindrance towards healthy living and hence the need for awareness creation regarding the benefits of engaging in healthy living, promoting behavior change through training people on ways of maintaining good health such as exercise and eating healthy food. Innovative strategies have helped the organization to engage in personalized healthcare coaching through the internet and also telephone calls that allow one on one interaction with clients. Employers are also able to get a general trend of the health of their workforce by logging in to the organization’s website. They play a significant role in the organizations efforts for awareness creation among employees regarding healthy living. The organization has an established corporate code of conduct to uphold business ethics (Vitello, 2003). Strategic human resource management practices have been emphasized in the organization to promote employee satisfaction and retention. Strategies such as organizational learning are applied to ensure that employees are kept abreast with regards to developments in the business environment. Knowledge and performance management are also applied to motivate and retain experienced employees (Jenkins & Stewart, 2010). Strategic Plan The organization’s strategic goals are aligned with its vision of helping people to enjoy a life of good health. To achieve continued performance improvement among clients with regards to value of healthcare, safety, cost and customer experience, the organization focuses preventing and reducing unnecessary changes in the services offered to patients. It has also embarked on a plan to enhance efficiency in service provision to enhance cost effectiveness to the customers while improving their experience. The management appreciates the importance of a competent workforce and has put more efforts towards strategic performance management practices. More nurses have been recruited while reward and benefit schemes have enhanced their motivation (McKay, 2010). The organizations research and development goal is focused on strengthening the knowledge base of members to enhance transformation of healthcare provision. The research agenda will help to develop and safeguard the primary business while strengthening the design of the healthcare system. Networking is a significant strategic goal that is aimed at facilitating inter-personal engagements to promote open communication and efficiency. Research and development are critical to the success of the organization. Customer focused research is important in promoting understanding of market trends, customer behavior as well as integrating new technologies to enhance service delivery (Jenkins & Stewart, 2010). Public policy development is also a strategic goal aimed at maximizing community participation and recognition in healthcare policy. The organization collects important data and facts on pertinent policy issues. When people feel that their views are represented in the decision making process, healthcare provision is expected to improve as more clients will be willing to participate in the process and hence the efforts to promote ownership of the healthcare goals among members. Employees have a right to understand the benefits they are entitled to in the healthcare schemes offered by the employer and may reject them if their interests are not effectively served. United healthcare therefore strives to ensure open communication to all its members (McKay, 2010). The organization’s motivation program is focused on promoting the participation of workers in a number of healthcare programs thereby enhancing the adoption of healthy lifestyles. This strategy is accomplished through the health rewards program that motivates employees to accept the organization’s packages. Employers are encouraged to offer incentives to employees who engage in healthy lifestyle through avoidance of risky behaviors such as alcoholism and smoking, striving to achieve good health such as through exercising and compliance to the instructions of healthcare personnel or living with the disease positively. The rewards are dependent on the health requirements of the employees to enhance flexibility and a broad range of behaviors to reward. It is expected that organizations will mainly offer incentives for behaviors that are likely to lower the health risk of employees, mainly to reduce the prevalence of ailments that are expensive to treat, which in turn will help to lower the healthcare costs. Specific data on population health is expected to come from reports on comprehensive health assessments as well as past medical claim records to analyze the health risks and specific needs to aid in the customization of the reward schemes thereby meeting client needs (Rubenfeld & Scheffer. 2006). Conclusion United healthcare has successfully incorporated lasting financial, environmentally friendly and community focused approaches in its corporate strategy. Customer relationship management provided has significantly improved operations and greater customer satisfaction. The organization is engaging in innovative practices to accomplish its strategic goals. A major goal is to ensure continued performance health improvement among its members. The research and development goal is important to ensure increased effectiveness. Networking is also a strategic goal that will enhance the organization’s marketing strategy. Public policy development is also a significant strategic goal to enhance participation by members. Motivation of members to engage in healthy lifestyles is significant to achieve decreased healthcare costs. References Jenkins, M. & Stewart, A, C. (2010), “The importance of a servant leader orientation”, Health Care Manage Rev, Vol. 35(1) pp. 46-54. McKay, L. (2010), A Healthy Dose of User Adoption: UnitedHealthcare overhauls its CRM program to embrace an on-demand solution that users will actually use. CRM magazine, Viewed on 23rd January 2014 at< http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Columns-Departments/REAL-ROI/A-Healthy-Dose-of-User-Adoption--70834.aspx> Rubenfeld, G. M. & Scheffer, B. K. (2006), Critical Thinking Tactics for Nurses: Tracking, Assessing, and Cultivating Thinking to Improve Competency-based Strategies, Jones & Bartlett Learning Vitello, C. J. (2003), “Innovative leadership through emotional intelligence”, Nursing Management, Vol. 34(10), pp. 28-32 Wellingham J. (2005), Engaging At Risk Populations In Early Intervention Programmes. Nursing and Residential Care, Vol. 8(12), pp. 541-544 Read More