Current and Emerging Trends in Healthcare
Part 1: Topic Research and Selection
In the recent times, the competition levels in the healthcare sector have been increasing. This trend is due to the increasing demand for quality healthcare services. The American healthcare sector charges high prices for the facilities, services, and products. Hence, patients are always looking for ways to reduce their medical costs, while receiving quality services. Healthcare providers introduce various activities and strategies in order to improve their profitability. Some of these techniques include decreasing costs of medical services and products and providing patients with additional care system. Moreover, hospitals are also venturing into the provision of specific medical amenities. The approach can aid in helping a medical facility attract a specific type of clientele. Meanwhile, compared to general treatment plans, specialization allows medical centers to invest in equipment and achieve superiority in treating the medical conditions.
At the same time, some healthcare facilities consider the provision of diverse medical services and products as the considerable option towards attracting a larger market share. One of the benefits of this practice is the ability to cater to varying customer segments. Besides, medical centers are taking more interest in gathering feedback from the customers to determine their level of satisfaction regarding the services received. The response of the stakeholders helps the hospitals determine the changes and adjustments that they need to make to improve their capability to please and attract more customers (Baileys, 2017). The introduction of smart personnel management is another considerable initiative that can improve the satisfaction levels of the patients. This procedure can aid in creating solutions to the existing challenges that limit the facility from achieving its maximum potential. The management can implement approaches such as the reduction of the staffing costs, reviewing the costs of drugs, improving the revenue cycle, and investing in IT.
Part 2: Literature Review
The selected solution in this case is smart personnel management. The combination of the technique with effective management of the medical facility can help in the achievement of the set goals and expectations. Smart personnel management focuses on ensuring all the necessary tools needed for success. Firstly, the personnel are the most important factor that determines this end. The effectiveness of the medical personnel is often reflected in the way they perform their various duties. The healthcare center should have efficient, dedicated, and qualified staff to compete with other facilities; this will also enable the management to earn high profits. The implementation of effective hiring systems can ensure the selection of the best employees. The organization should also carry out an evaluation of the current employees. The assessment process should focus on determining the productivity of the employees. The objective is to keep the best employees and replace the non-performing workers.
The evaluation process can include key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine the elements that identify the most effective employees. The process can be followed by training and development. The role of the guidance programs is to equip the staff with more skills that they can use in their different positions (Hughes et al,, 2016). The training programs can aid in improving the effectiveness of the medical personnel. Besides, new technology and techniques can be introduced to the care providers. This will ensure higher levels of customer satisfaction. The achievement of this goal can play a huge role in influencing the competitive advantage of the facility and attract more customers.
Moreover, the introduction of employee motivation techniques and reward systems can also result in increased performances, which can have a direct impact on the profitability rate. The performance level of the motivated employees is usually higher in comparison with that of the non-motivated ones. The inspired staff will have the energy and morale to put their best efforts within the available environment (Howard et al., 2016). On the other hand, demotivated workers do not utilize their full potential. This situation will affect the profitability of the organization, which is dependent on the effectiveness of the medical staff. Additionally, the use of reward systems can push the medical personnel towards meeting the set individual and group goals (Phipps‐taylor & Shortell, 2016). For example, the care providers can receive rewards for obtaining the most referrals or positive feedback from the customers.
Investment in technology is another technique that can improve the profitability of the organization. In this decade, technology is the most influential factor in the provision of medical services and products. Tools such as artificial intelligence and electronic health records are mandatory in delivering quality healthcare products and services. Moreover, the introduction of technology can aid in overcoming some of the challenges that the medical professionals encounter in delivering services and products. However, implementing technological solutions in the workplace is both easy and challenging (Hultquist, 2016). One of the issues may emerge from the large capital investment needed to have all the best equipment. Hospitals that specialize in dealing with specific treatments may find it more expensive. Additionally, the training of the employees to adapt to and understand the technology requires more capital. Medical centers have to incur another cost of hiring technology experts to train the staff members.
Furthermore, in the process of improving the performance of the employees and trying to achieve more profitability, the management might decide to change the structure of the medical facility. For example, they may take a decision to outsource the monitoring of some services. The implementation of such an approach can prove beneficial in ensuring effectiveness rate (Schmidt & Schmidt, 2016). However, the organization selected for the outsourcing the work should have the proper ability to handle the services in a respectable way, which satisfies the expectations of the facility. Other changes that the management can make are the reduction of readmissions and unnecessary testing. Such steps can prevent the medical personnel wasting time that they could use towards contributing to the organization’s profitability levels. However, the management should take time to analyze the cases of readmissions or testing to avoid chasing away patients with serious issues in the process.
The management should also renegotiate the terms of agreement with the vendors and suppliers. The aim of the approach is to reduce the overall costs incurred by the facility in procuring supplies. This initiative of cost reduction will increase the profits. Hence, the management should focus on all avenues that could operate effectively even after the reduction of the costs (Baileys, 2017). However, reducing the costs should not affect the ability of the medical personnel and the quality of health services and products. Another strategy that can aid in the reduction of the costs is the review of the prices of drugs. The aim is to identify if the hospital can access the medicines of the same quality from another source, but at a cheaper price (Mioduchowska-Jaroszewicz & Romanowska, 2016). If this is achievable, the authorities should establish contact with the new source and sign a contract for the required drugs. It is always imperative to ensure that the identified source or supplier is legitimate and appeals to the views of the medical facility.
Another way of reducing costs is decreasing the staffing costs. The reliance on data collection can provide the medical facility with information on whether to cut down on the wages, salaries, and benefits offered to the employees. Besides, census data can be useful in identifying whether the care provider has enough or less employees. This will help the organization in determining the proper strategy to deal with the over or under-staffing. For example, to counter the issue of under-staffing, the medical facility can rely on flexible staffing plans (Cleverly & Cleverly, 2017). Eventually, the plan should ensure that the number of employees is adequate, and their salaries are reasonable. When the number of patients is high, for example, the administrators can decide to hire temporary medical personnel. Further, reliance on flexible work regimes can be important in the reduction of the overall costs. In fact, hiring only temporary personnel when it is necessary reduces the money spent for paying salaries.
Additionally, the management should use the results of evaluations and other tests to determine the deficiencies in the organizational culture. Such assessments can determine how the medical facility is fairing in all the departments and the possible reasons behind some sections lagging behind while others are performing. This will enable the enterprise to make the necessary changes and adjustments (Freund, 2018). For example, if the evaluations show that the lack of quality customer service is the main reason behind the negative outcomes, numerous remedial measures can be adopted. First, the medical center can try to create awareness among the employees about the need of adopting efficient methods that guarantee quality customer service (Carpman & Grant, 2016). Training and development will equip the staff with the required comprehension and communication skills needed for improving relationship with the stakeholders. The collection of feedback from the clients can reveal whether the invested training has resulted in a positive outcome. Moreover, the information can also aid in improving the revenue cycle performance. Overall, the exercise will help the medical facility work towards improving the profits.
To conclude, the current and emerging trends in the healthcare sector are exerting a major influence on the medical services and products offered to the public. The aim of most healthcare facilities is to cater to the increasing needs of the people. The need of the hour is quality medical service. The provision of quality services improves the competitive advantage of the facility in comparison to the other hospitals. The implementation of smart personnel management can offer all the necessary tools and processes that will assure high profitability levels. The failure of a medical facility in encountering the high competition in the field due to its inability to make adjustments could endanger its prospects in attracting patients. Such a situation may lead to the closure of the center. Adoption of technological tools can offer a panacea in this scenario. Therefore, implementation of smart personnel management is an approach that all medical facilities should consider.
References
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Carpman, J. R., & Grant, M. A. (2016). Design that cares: Planning health facilities for patients and visitors (Vol. 142). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Cleverley, W. O., & Cleverley, J. O. (2017). Essentials of health care finance. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Freund, B. (2018). Influence of communication of medical personnel with patients on health care units management processes. Annals of Marketing Management & Economics, 4(1), 5-24.
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Hughes, A. M., Gregory, M. E., Joseph, D. L., Sonesh, S. C., Marlow, S. L., Lacerenza, C. N., … & Salas, E. (2016). Saving lives: A meta-analysis of team training in healthcare. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(9), 1266.
Hultquist, B. L. (2016). Innovative teaching strategies in nursing and related health professions. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
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Phipps‐taylor, M., & Shortell, S. M. (2016). More than money: Motivating physician behavior change in accountable care organizations. The Milbank Quarterly, 94(4), 832-861.
Schmidt, G., & Schmidt, E. (2016). Hospitals and war: Medical departments and personnel. International Journal of Behavioural and Healthcare Research, 6(1), 1-14.