Health Systems Partnership with Retail Clinic Market - Essay Example

"Health Systems Partnership with Retail Clinic Market" is a wonderful example of a paper on the health system.
A team should be brought together to analyze the situation and propose a solution. The team should include the institution's leadership, members of different departments, and some of their customers to get a wholesome view. A patient-centered team would be ideal in this case.

The team should assess the partnerships' reasons, such as networking, gaining more comprehensive access to skills or knowledge, and financial assets. The two companies need to have shared goals, similar management styles, and deep mutual trust between them for the partnership to be a success (Neville, 2013). Diverging goals between the two companies will lead to failure sooner or later. The company getting into a partnership needs to invest in determining the kind of partner they need and why they need a partner. The lack of mutual trust and a good relationship between the partners will lead to doom. It is essential to have partners who complement the objectives of the institution.

UHS's strengths are; an excellent research facility, a Level 1 trauma facility, and associations with other hospitals in the state. It is a branch of a great medical school, and it has specialized centers for women, children, and cancer patients. Its strengths make it outstanding and have made it to be termed as one of the leaders in the medical field. The rapid changes in health care due to consumerism pose a significant threat to UHS. The institution's leadership team needs to act quickly by finding out whether retail partnerships are worth it. Competitors are already getting into retail partnerships. UHS has the opportunity to conduct research and decide whether or not to get into retail partnerships. The weakness that the institution faces is the lack of knowledge and previous experience of how to handle the situation.

UHS needs a qualified professional to lead the selected team. Since UHS has never handled such a situation before, it is advisable to use the skills of an external professional consultant in partnership matters.

The institution will need short-term staffing for the project. After the project is over, the institution can lay down the staff that is no longer needed.

The new consumers can be linked to the existing EHR system. The retail partner needs to collect vital medical information from the new consumers, which is then shared electronically to UHS.

The medical history, allergies, previous medication, laboratory test results, and demographics are among the data that should be collected from new consumers. The data should be collected at the point of contact and become part of the EHR system.

It is reported that most retail clinics cost between $50,000 and $250,000 to build, which is much lower compared to the parent institution (Morse, 2015). There are several potential rewards to both the institution and the patients. Patients can access on-demand health care services from retail clinics, which reduces their visits to the institution. The institution saves on costs that could have been incurred due to emergency visits. A retail clinic can generate revenue worth $500,000 in a year, meaning that UHS can start seeing a return on its investment after a year.

By partnering with a retail company in the pharmaceutical sector, UHC can enjoy more knowledge and information about its patients. The retail partner has their database, which can be useful to UHS. It is reported that more people go to pharmacies when they fall ill compared to the hospitals. A partnership will also help UHS achieve its objective of value-based healthcare by meeting the consumers' dynamic needs. Consumers can easily have access to healthcare services at their convenience in health clinics located in retail companies. However, a partnership with a retail company may compromise the independence of UHS. The retail company may feel the need to get involved in UHS's decision-making process, which may lead to conflict between the two companies. In case the liability is not favorable to UHS, the company may incur a lot of costs in case of a mishap.

UHS should be considering offering health care services outside the institution through partnering with retail clinics or doing home calls. The institution has been dealing mainly with inpatients. The trend is changing, which prompts the institution to invest in training its team in adopting health care services outside the hospital.