Adaptation & Accountability - Essay Example

Adaptation The paper will discuss the issue of adaptation in relation to healthcare organizations. The main stress will be made on the necessity forsuch adaptation. The work is based on the specific example of Duke University Medical Center and Health System in North Carolina. Its story of success and adaptation might serve as a model for healthcare organizations which go through difficult times. According to Laubach (1997), health care systems should adapt to the developing of new technologies, especially in creating new systems of controlling and spreading the data, but as far as the number of healthcare organizations in private sector grows faster than that of public sector, they become the leaders of the technological revolution.

‘The new health care delivery organizations should save money by concentrating their purchasing power, enforcing strict cost controls, and implementing programs to standardize medical practices’. (Laubach, 1997) The Duke University Medical Center needed a modern database to track the free space information, as it includes three different hospitals and several laboratories, and thus having correct space information is the key element of the robust healthcare delivery. ‘We considered how we could reconcile our databases with that of Accounting’s System, which include supporting the indirect cost recovery studies, with the daily business of the Medical Center.

’ (Graf, 1998) The absence of a good database in any healthcare organization might even indirectly lead to its closing, and much has already been said about it. Any organization needs the ability to adapt to the changing environment, as it is always influenced by the limited resources and increasing competition. (Laubach, 1997) Only a few organizations are able to develop a strong plan of adaptation through looking for opportunities of modernizing their techniques and making marketing strategies work effectively.

Duke Medical System was mainly concentrated on the issue of information technologies, and at present time there is no argument, that information technologies play major role in any business activity. Duke Medical Center was able to provide the system of interactive planning, which implies, that the company’s activity is aimed at inner adaptation together with the adaptation to the external environment. This healthcare organization does not ground its activity on the intuition of its financial and administrative managers, which had lead many companies towards their closing.

The present strategy of Duke is created through the prism of ‘direction for internal resource allocation decisions as well as external awareness and promotional expense allocations’. (Graf, 1998) It is equally important for any successful healthcare organization to envision the future, as the sphere of healthcare delivery often goes through dramatic changes, being directed at satisfying the needs of patients, with giving them new servicing and thus making the company more profitable. This feature should be combined with the ability and readiness for innovation, which Duke has clearly shown through the creation of the abovementioned database.

Having created this computer system, Duke is constantly looking for the new opportunities of adding new features and options to the existing software. This informational database was able to concentrate the whole inner activity of the company on the adapting it to the new demands of the patients and workers, having made their activity and cooperation harmonized. Simultaneously, the development of such systems is often complied with the needs of the modern environment, as it offers considerable assistance and cooperation with other hospitals and healthcare organizations in their search for better servicing of patients.

Duke Medical Center is now among the leaders of the healthcare sphere in the USA, with its modern information technologies system and new approaches to the healthcare delivery, which is available for anyone, who needs medical support and assistance.Works cited(1) Graf, Lee. ‘Strategic Analysis for Resource Allocation Decisions in Health Care Organizations.’ Journal of Managerial Issues, vol. 8, issue 1 (1998): 92-97(2) Laubach, D. ‘Medical Innovation at the Crossroads.’ Issues of Science and Technology, vol.

11, issue 3 (1997): 33-35