Building an Ethical Healthcare Organization - Case Study Example

Building an Ethical Health Care Organization Prepared by: Prepared for: Building an Ethical Health Care Organization Introduction: Being a director of a newly set up company implies many responsibilities in terms of the company's growth, establishing its reputation in the market, acquiring new clients, etc. As a newly built company, a lot of work requires to be done to ensure that the company is not only able to survive the global competition but grow rapidly to build a name for itself in the market. I have also been appointed as a director of one such recently set-up health care company- EDS. The company is providing revenue optimization services to the medical practitioners. The company has its rough business model ready with already established clients and my job from hereon is to help it evolve further and ensure that company builds a name for itself based on ethics and values. As a director of EDS, my first and foremost duty will be to ensure that the foundation of organization is based on ethics and core cultural values. Understanding the organization's culture, its work policies and its existing mission and values will be the first thing to start with. Once I am aware of its current culture, business model, and values, than only can I move towards drafting its mission and values and work towards make it an ethical organization. Again, I strongly believe that if I want my organization to be based on ethics than I have to lead and set an example for everyone. Unless, I am performing my duties based on ethics and values, I cannot expect others to do so. The solution is to look beyond just having a code of ethics and make ethics a core value in your department1 (Katherine Spencer Lee) Setting up tone at the top level- For me to believe and wish that my employees should followed strong values and ethics; I have to lead the group. If I adhere to the highest standards of behavior, the rest of employees are more likely to follow suit. Developing written guidelines- It is always a good idea to have written guidelines and ethics policies that everyone in the organization- from top to bottom needs to adhere to. In building ethics from the onset- To ensure that the organization is built on strong foundation of ethics, I would like to communicate company's ethics and value and imbibe them in all the employees from the time they are hired. Providing safe channels for employees to report wrong doing- Unless employees are sure of privacy and confidentiality, they will be scared of stepping ahead and informing the management of any sort of wrong doing. I will have to make sure that the company has safe channels to report any kind of wrong doings or violations. Now few things about the Organization- EDS Formed a year ago, EDS is a profit organization that aims to become a pioneer in providing health care services, which can be helpful to medical practices in improving their efficiency, maximize their revenue potential, and increase operational control. EDS provides back office services to the medical practitioners all across the US from scheduling an appointment to processing the insurances. This helps the medical practices to focus on their real work- that is patient care. The company has a unique web based application- Synerios that provides an integrated set of tools for medical billing, collections, transcription, document management, electronic medical records, online medical supply purchasing, and business office staffing and health information exchange. The company's application- Synerios is based on the model that medical practices using this application do not need a big IT staff or a large upfront investment. Our staff takes care of the technology for clients. All that is required by clients is high-speed Internet access, computer, and a scanner to become a more efficient and profitable practice. The company even provides trainings to the client's staff on using the application efficiently and conveniently Plus EDS has 24 * 7 support staff to take care of any kind of customer needs. The Clientele- The company has shown a good growth rate and within a short span of less than one year, the company has been able to establish a clientele of almost 100 medical practitioners from all parts of the country. And its mission is to achieve more than 1100 clients from all over the USA and Europe by 2011. Current medical practices catered to by EDS The company currently has a specialty practice in the following areas: Gastroenterology (Available Now) OB/GYN Physical Therapy Podiatry Cardiology Colorectal ENT General Surgery Internal Medicine Orthopedics Pain Management Visiting a doctor, being treated and billed is not a simple process in the US. There are large number of procedures and regulations involved in the process. This is turn requires a big team to handle the work flow which can turn very expensive for the physician or the hospital. EDS offers a cost effective yet convenient solution in the form of Synerios to the physicians to overcome the work flow problems. As a director, my role would be to make sure that EDS is able to reach its objective and goal of becoming the leading medical practice services provider in the world. This is only possible by studying the business model and clientele and find measures to make it better and better. And that is what I aim to do. MISSION STATEMENT My company will follow a very simple mission statement: to become the most reliable and valued source for medical revenue optimization services using dedication, truthfulness, and willingness to succeed as core weapons. The company will have its mission statement very closely linked to our ethical culture. As a director, I will ensure that my company becomes number one in providing medical revenue optimization services, but never compromise on its ethics and values and reach that position. I will make sure that the workforce of EDS believes in Integrity, Honestly, and Commitment. And I am sure that when any work is done following these three principles, success is inevitable. When we will achieve success following our mission statement, which I am sure to achieve, it will definitely pass a message to community, that even in today's time, success can be achieved following the path of truthfulness and honestly. I am sure to set an example of our company's strong ethics and cultural value for the rest to follow. OUR VISION My vision for my company's future can be simply stated in few sentences: To be the reliable, single-source leader of medical revenue optimization services Create a working environment that's passionate about innovation and service yet strongly believes in ethics and core cultural values Leverage our unrivalled expertise in practice management, revenue optimization and technology to deliver best-in-class, web-based solutions and services for medical practices. Work neck to neck with small and specialty practices to help increase their practice efficiency, improve operational control, and maximize their revenues. Develop partnership with our clients to achieve mutual financial success. Deliver the most responsive, instant, and expert support available in the industry. Our vision is and will be closely linked with our single statement mission statement that talks all about our specialty and our ethics. I have been born and brought up in a culture where nothing is considered more important than ethics and value and as the director of EDS, I will ensure that my work force also imbibe the same ethics to build a successful organization. Our value statements state our focused mission of achieving success by providing world class yet cost effective solution to our clients followed our basic ethics and principles. The willingness and dedication to grow and succeed is what will drive my work force and employees. When all my employees will pledge to live upto our mission and vision, they will automatically have a drive to work committedly towards achieving our vision. I will make sure all my employees have our vision and mission learnt by heart so that their behavior and work actions are always focused to work towards it. I consider this to be the most important aspect of my role as a director of EDS. CODE OF ETHICS The ten codes of ethics that I consider imperative to success of my organization that all the employees of my company will have to pledge to follow are: 1- Contribute to Society and respect all human beings irrespective of caste, color, or culture- Any person who cannot respect others and believe in discrimination be it racial or economical, cannot definitely be a part of my organization. 2- Be honest and trustworthy- This is the core of my company's vision and mission. Any individual who joins my organization has to be honest and trustworthy as without these two core values no organization can work successfully. There will be no place for dishonest people in my organization 3- Honor property rights including copyrights and patent. Violation of copyrights, patents, trade secrets and the terms of license agreements is prohibited by law in most circumstances and my organization will strongly believe on this ethic 4- Respect the privacy of others- As a medical revenue optimization professional, the company will be dealing in various patient records. But no employee would be permitted to misuse patient's information for any purpose other than work. Any individual found violating this ethic will be strongly punished 5- Constantly strive to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness, and dignity in both the process and products of professional work. Our work is based solely on the service that we provide to our clients. Any latches in the same can be disastrous to the reputation and growth of the organization. Thus all my employees will constantly work towards achieving this mission 6- Maintain professional proficiency- All the employees of my company will be expected to participate and work towards setting high standards of competence and work towards achieving and maintaining those standards 7- Honor timelines and assigned responsibilities- Our profession depends on how committed we are towards our responsibilities and timelines. Any delay to fulfill the commitment without a genuine excuse would be considered as the strongest violation of company's values and ethics 8- Enter restricted areas or access confidential information only when required to do so. No trespassing or attempt to access information not meant for an individual will be encouraged at any cost 9- Uphold and promote the principles of this code- It will be a collective responsibility of the entire organization and its employees to strongly believe in the code of ethics and each employee will be expected to encourage adherence by other employees 10- Treat violation of this code as termination of employment- I am a very strong believer of ethics and culture and I would expect all my employees to nurture the same. Any gross misconduct in violation to the code of ethics can result in termination of employment. Provided to all employees at the time of their joining, this code of ethics will clearly define their responsibilities and kind of behavior expected from them during their association with EDS. If the employees will imbibe this code at the onset of their work, they will definitely know what all the organization expects from them and what they can expect from the organization. This will definitely help them align their values and behavior to the organization's ethics. Again, our code of ethic is closely related and linked to our mission and vision as it describes the kind of personal and professional behavior is expected from all the employees to work towards achieving our mission keeping our vision in mind. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE Organizational culture actually defines the whole personality of the organization2. It is very difficult to have one specific definition of organizational culture. It varies from organization to organization and culture to culture. According to Becker and Geek; Organizational culture is a set of common understandings around which action is organized. finding expression in language whose nuances are peculiar to the group3 (Becker and Geer 1960). Edgar Schein, an MIT Professor of Management and author of Organizational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View, suggests that an organization's culture develops to help it cope with its environment. Today, organizational leaders are confronted with many complex issues during their attempts to generate organizational achievement in VUCA environments. A leader's success will depend, to a great extent, upon understanding organizational culture4. I intend to foster a culture for my organization that rewards and encourage honesty, dedication, and collective efforts. EDS will promote open communication with no distinctions based on the employee's position. I will make sure that my company policies always deal with everyone equally, providing growth opportunities to all the employees solely on their performance. I intend to have a separate grievance management cell where employees can go and discuss any sort of problem that they are facing in the organization. Robust measures to track individual performance will ensure that no deserving employee is treated unfairly. My human resource department will constantly strive to provide best work culture and infrastructure for the employees and taking care of their basic needs. I will have open discussion forums where everyone can come and post their views and suggestions and I will personally ensure that all genuine suggestions are incorporated. When employees will have a comfortable and fair environment to work in, their course of actions will automatically align to company's vision and mission. MY LEADERSHIP APPORACH As a leader, I will definitely need to follow work ethics and core values strongly before I accept anyone else to follow them. I intend to be an approachable leader with liberal attitude. I would definitely want to be available for all my employees whenever they need me. If the employees find me strong on work ethics and values and at the same time if they know that I am always there to listen to their problems and to help them during critical situations, they will always trust my values and me. In this way it will be very easy for me to make sure that they are working on the code of ethics that I follow for the organization. As a leader, my foremost responsibility is to make sure that all the employees in my organization are treated equally and there is no discrimination among them whatsoever. I need to ensure that everyone gets equal opportunity to grow in the organization and their professional and personal needs are taken care of by the company. If I can be successful in fulfilling all these responsibilities, I wll consider myself to be a successful leader. OVERSIGHT It is easy to lay down guidelines and code of ethics for the employees but it is difficult to make sure that they are actually implemented and followed by all the employees. But, I will ensure that my organization has enough measures and procedure to track down any sort of violation of the company's ethics and culture. I intend to have a separate tools for measure individual's performance on daily basis and a separate team to keep a close eye on the employees just to make sure that no one is violating any of the code of ethics and values. At the same time, I will have confidential platform where employees can come and report if they see any kind of violation of the company's polices and procedures. These way employees will not be scared of reporting any sort of compliance issues even if it concerns their seniors. Also, the employees will be intimated well in advance about the kind of punishment they might to have face in case of deliberate violation of code of ethics or company's values. These measures will be ensure that the organizational values and ethics are strictly adhered to. CONCLUSION In the times of tough global competition, only a company based on strong ethics and culture values can survive and grow on a long term basis. As a director of EDS I will ensure that the company adheres to highest standards of codes and ethics and that all the employees' work towards achieving company's mission of providing highest quality of services with honestly, integrity, and commitment. I will make EDS an ideal company to work for where all the employees will be provided with best of infrastructure, and facilities. At EDS, all employees will imbibe strong cultural values and ethics and will commonly work towards the goal of individual as well as company's success. References 1- Katherine Spencer Lee; Referencing not Plagrisim. Retrieved on 27 June 2007 from http://www.cioupdate.com/career/article.php/3609326 2- Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC., Copyright 1997-2007. http://www.managementhelp.org/org_thry/culture/culture.htm 3- 3-Becker and Geek, 1960; 4- Edgar Schein; Referencing not Plagrisim. Retrieved on 27 June 2007 from http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch16.html Read More