Challenges And Recommendations For Middleville Regional Healthcare Essay.

Examine how healthcare management concepts and theories are applied to critical issues in healthcare organizations.

Analyze the critical management issues, purpose, functions, and performance measures of different departments within healthcare organizations.

Explain how public policy has shaped the development of the U.S. healthcare system.

Use technology and information resources to research issues in health services organization management.

Write clearly and concisely about health services organization management using proper writing mechanics.

Introduction to Middleville Regional Healthcare

Middleville Regional Healthcare is one of the most reputable healthcare facilities in the region. Since its establishment, the hospital has been doing a commendable job in providing healthcare services to approximately 350,000 people. Despite making tremendous milestones, the hospital is still lagging behind as far competition is concerned. Latest statistics show that the 575-licensed bed has a workforce of 2,000 employees and recorded 13,000 admissions, and 221,000 OV visits. However, in terms of expenses, the hospital spent a total of $125,000,000. The hospital incurred a heavier expenditure than Brierfield and Greystone hospitals that spent $1,875,000 and $1,200,000 respectively. In terms of performance, it has been deduced that the facility has been facing a myriad of challenges in its human resources management, marketing, finances, use, and adaptability to the latest Information Technology (IT). These are the areas that will be evaluated in the hospital’s strategic performance initiatives.

For a few decades after its establishment, Middleville Regional Healthcare flourished as one of the most prestigious healthcare facilities in the region. Many people identified with the hospital because it was the best alternative in the market. A part from having modern facilities, the facility boasted of having a team of highly trained healthcare professionals in whom the patients and the general public could rely to deliver satisfactory healthcare services. However, this has come to pass because the hospital n longer enjoys such a privilege. Today, Middleville Regional Healthcare no longer appeals to the public because it is in deep problems. The following are some of the major challenges facing the hospital:

Middleville Regional Healthcare is the larger of its 2 competitors in the region. It has a total of 2,000 employees. These are the professionals on which the facility banks to help in serving its clientele. Although the management spends a large portion of its revenue to remunerate these employees, most of the staff is still demoralized to serve the hospital.  A thorough analysis of the facility revealed that Middleville Regional Care does not manage its employees as expected (Frederickson & Ghere, 2013). Over the years, the hospital has witnessed a decline in performance because the employees feel demoralized.

The first reason why the employees are demoralized is because of the poor remuneration by the management. As a matter of fact, employees can feel motivated if they are provided with rewarding and commensurate remuneration packages. However, this is what has been lacking at the Middleville Regional Care in which the employees are not given attractive packages as compared to their counterparts in other healthcare facilities. The amount of money given to the employees as salaries does not appeal to them (Carraher & Paridon, 2015). The employees feel that the salaries are far much lower than the kind of services provided to the hospital. In fact, many employees complain that they do not get adequate allowances regardless of the strenuous services provided.

Challenges Facing Middleville Regional Healthcare

Besides, employees feel demoralized because of the poor working conditions to which they are subjected. A part from being overworked, the employees feel that they are not recognized. Most of the time, the hospital’s employees are called to attend to emergency cases without necessarily being given commensurate allowances. At the same time, the employees have been complaining about promotion which is not guaranteed (Frederickson & Ghere, 2013). Last, but not least, the employees have been complaining because the management does not give them an ample opportunity to progress in their career. As a leading healthcare facility in the region, the management of Middleville Regional Healthcare should allow and empower its workforce to further their studies and get promoted within the shortest time possible.

  The other challenge that has been associated with Middleville Regional Healthcare is the laxities in the adoption of modern IT. As a major healthcare facility in the region, Middleville Regional Healthcare should be at the fore front of adopting modern technologies in its day to day operations. However, this has not been effectively done because the management has been reluctant to do so. Failure to embrace modern technologies means that the facility has not been adaptable to the changing situations in the healthcare sector (Mithas & Rust, 2016).  It has negatively impacted on the management of the healthcare facility in many ways.

To begin with, poor adoption of modern technologies has made it quite challenging for the hospital to carry out all its activities as expected. For example, failure to use modern IT in record keeping has made it impossible for the healthcare personnel to effectively serve the patients. Without an easier accessibility, retrieval, and storage of patient’s health records, the healthcare providers have not been able to do their job well. It has led to wrong diagnoses, treatment and misuse of healthcare services. at the same time, it has become challenging for the healthcare providers to manage patients and monitor their progress (Mithas & Rust, 2016). Finally, lack of IT services in the hospital has interfered with procurement and chain operations management. These are the areas that can benefit a lot if modern technological advancements are embraced in a hospital.

The main reason why Middleville Regional Care has not been able to achieve its goals is because of the deteriorating reputation it has been associated with. One of the reasons why this happens is because the management has not been adequately marketing itself (Deepa & Deshmukh, 2013). The management has not been concerned about the reputation it has in the eyes of the public. It has forgotten to realize that strategic communication is a powerful tool that should be used by any healthcare facility to manage its image.  At the same time, no efforts have been made to advertise the hospital in the available media platforms. Lack of these marketing strategies has crippled the healthcare facility because it has barred it from correcting the injured image and gains a good reputation in the public (Radu, 2013). At the same time, it has made it challenging for the hospital to disseminate information about its existence and the uniqueness in services.  

Remedies for Middleville Regional Healthcare’s Challenges

The main reason for hiring a consultant is to identify the possible remedial measures to be taken to address the managerial challenges facing the Middleville Regional Care. For this reason, the paper presents the following recommendations for consideration:

To rectify the loopholes in its human resource management, the hospital should review its human resource management strategies. It is nonsensical to hire employees and fail to motivate them. As an established facility, Middleville Regional Care is an equal opportunity employer. It should take the necessary measures to motivate all its employees to ensure that they deliver their best services to the satisfaction of the clients (Kim, Lee, Chun & Benbasat, 2014). To do this, it is recommended that the management should offer attractive and satisfactory remuneration packages to all the employees. Besides, all the employees should not be overworked, but given light duties that will enable them to improve their performance. In case of any overtime, the employees should be given commensurate allowances. Finally, all the employees should be given an ample opportunity to progress in their career. The management should sponsor their master’s studies and accord them the necessary promotions without any delays (Hayes, Douglas & Bonner, 2015). The success of these initiatives should be measured by evaluating the improvement in the performance of employees, their satisfaction, and retention in the healthcare facility.  

To deal with the problem of technology, it is recommended that the management of Middleville Regional Care should be ready to embrace modern technology in its daily operations. Middleville Regional Care should be like any other healthcare facility that has fully-adopted IT in the management of its healthcare services. The use of IT will enable the healthcare facility to manage patients’ records, provide effective testing, diagnoses, treatment, and medication. At the same time, IT will help in the management of chain store services because it will be applied in the procurement and management of supplies (Ward & Peppard, 2016). This will enable the hospital to have all the necessary supplies without inefficiency at any given time. The success of this recommendation will be measured by considering the improvements in IT-related operations such as record keeping and chain operations management.

To deal with the problem of marketing, the paper recommends that the management should engage in intensive marketing for the organization. The first thing to do is to use the available print, broadcast and online media. This will give the management an opportunity to disseminate information to the public. At the same time, the management should put in place a strong communicating team entrusted with the responsibility of managing the organization’s strategic communication initiatives (Percy & Rosenbaum-Elliot, 2012). Marketing is important because it will help the management to ensure that the target market is equipped with all the necessary information about the hospital. Information is a very powerful tool that will sensitize the public and enables them to have accurate, informed, and useful information about the hospital.  Its success will be measured by analyzing how informed the public is.   

  Finally, to manage the organization’s finances, it is recommended that the management should consider adopting cost-cutting measures. Even though the Middleville Regional Care is a not-for-profit organization, it should be sustainable. Meaning, it should not run on losses. As it is today, the facility is running on huge expenses. The first thing to do to address this challenge is to lay-off a section of the bloated workforce. Besides, the management should hire part-time employees to supplement the services of their full-time counterparts (McClellan, et al., 2014). Better still, the management can reconsider its structure and only support viable services that will be profitable and sustainable.  The success of this initiative will be measured by evaluating how sustainable the facility becomes.   

References

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Hayes, B., Douglas, C., & Bonner, A. (2015). Work environment, job satisfaction, stress and burnout among haemodialysis nurses. Journal of nursing management, 23(5), 588-598.

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