Health Organization Case Study - Essay Example

The company is also nationally recognized for its Alzheimer’s disease and spinal cord research endeavors (Banner Health, 2007). The mission of the facility reads, “To make a difference in people’s lives through excellent patient care” (Banner Health, 2007). The company has over the years undertaken aggressive strategies aimed at improving service delivery to its patients in the next decade. This paper will assess Banner Health’s readiness in addressing the needs of its citizens in the next decade.

Wickramasinghe, Gupta and Sharma (2005) note that Banner is in the process of instituting a major integration of its clinical information system architecture with modern care transformation and care management services. This new architecture being planned is intended to incorporate both internal and external knowledge resources into minute-by-minute procedures used in care deliver. Wickramasinghe, Gupta and Sharma argue that a portion of this architecture has already been implemented in certain Banner facilities.

The other new facility being put up is planned to be a “paper-light” hospital which will extensively use electrical medical records together with computerized physician order entries which will incorporate knowledge-based rules, real-time. Banner’s main intention in this case is to embed knowledge within its information technology so as to promote patient safety and quality of healthcare delivery services in a continuous manner (Wickramasinghe, Gupta and Sharma, 2005). From Banner’s mission statement, it is clear that the company’s focus is on improving people’s lives through the provision of quality health care to all citizens.

For instance, Wickramasinghe, Gupta and Sharma (2005) note that the company has an organizational structure composed of the Care Management Council whose mandate is to accomplish system-wide accounting, decision-making and leadership tasks in relation to care management. The Council creates organizational policies, comes up with priorities for care management activities, and establishes a forum that enables idea sharing and resolution of issues. The council is made up of the director of care management systems, care management team leaders as well as representatives drawn from various departments such as finance, human resource, operation, risk management, and information technology.

This team also ensures that Banner’s resources are available and efficiently managed for the purposes of providing quality services to citizens. Wickramasinghe, Gupta and Sharma (2005) note that the organization has knowledgeable leaders who are experts in their respective disciplines. Furthermore, Banner has a more developed human resource department whose mandate is to ensure that the organization has enough qualified nurses to cope with the ever-increasing number of patients seeking the company’s services.

Banner Health also has travelling nurses who offer outpatient services to citizens (Banner Health, 2007). The company projects that this trend will continue in the foreseeable future. This ensures that citizens get quality and professional services. According to Wickramasinghe, Gupta and Sharma (2005), teams within Banner Heath are co-chaired by a physician, and administrative leader. The main purpose for these meetings is generally geared toward discussing