In the modern era, budgetary allocations are requiring that healthcare facilities prioritize their needs so that resource allocation may exhibit fiscal success and profitability in addition to ensuring improved quality of care for clients ( Jones, Finkler, Kovner & Mose, 2018). As such nurse leaders have the responsibility of identifying needs within their units and making strategic plans to circumvent those needs.
The emergency department is charged with the responsibility of providing care services for emergency clients. Most notably, clients in the ED usually have no appointment, therefore, providing care for he can be challenging. The unit has been operating with equipment that has been in place for a relatively long time making it challenging to provide efficient services in the technology era. The unit plans to acquire modern equipment, establish self-service kiosks, and a fast-track lane to enable the provision of effective and efficient care services. The emergency department targets reducing the time taken to attend to patients to fifteen minutes per client while ensuring the quality of care is not compromised.
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Profitability and fiscal success
The profitability and fiscal success of implementing the plan are hinged on the fact that the new equipment and expanded emergency department will attract clients within the local community as well as the entire state. According to Clements (2016) acquiring modern equipment translates into profitability for health organizations. Subsequently, the health care facility will be able to receive referrals from other hospitals and increase the amount of revenue, cash flows and increase profitability.
Moreover, the hospital will work closely with the insurance providers to have their clients seek services from the facility to boost the facility’s account receivables. Despite the facility not being in a position to control underpayments from governmental payors such as Medicaid and Medicare, the facility has a considerable level of control over the employer-based and commercial payors with these stakeholders accounting for more than thirty-five percent of the revenues in the facility making it possible for the facility to better negotiate contracts and evade costs associated with underpayments.
Plan for managing labor force
Studies have alluded to the fact that managing labor force holds a significant spot in managing productivity ( Niles, 2019) . To ensure productivity, the department is adopting a standardized care process model which will act as the benchmark for best practice. Studies have shown that practitioners who utilize such standard models of service delivery are more successful in curbing resource wastage by reducing readmission rates that have the potential of creating liabilities for the facility.
The department has been faced with the need to increase services efficiency through reducing consultation time to evade potential congestion of the unit. As such, productivity goals have been established for the labor force. It has been projected that with the establishment of self-service kiosks, fast-track lane, and whiteboards, consultation for clients will be maintained at fifteen minutes per client which will increase the number of clients served by each practitioner to thirty clients for their shifts. At the moment, one practitioner is serving fifteen clients per a six-hour shift. Achieving these targets will help in managing labor in congruence with the facility’s mission of providing quality care or patients and creating an ambient working environment for practitioners as they engage in health promotion activities.
Equipment and services needed for seamless patient care
Provision of quality primary care is at the core of every health care facility's mission. As such, the emergency department is aiming at providing seamless patient care to effectively promote our clients’ health status.
Introducing self-service registration kiosks will eliminate the traditional registration processes. Clients will be able to enter their demographics which are consolidated in an electronic health records system with the objective of improving the efficiency of retrieving information. Registered clients will be evaluated in any consultation room increasing the number of clients served by each practitioner per shift. According to Leger & Dunham-Taylor (2017), increasing productivity of practitioners is integral in boosting account receivables and as such the unit will have increased revenues and reduced costs of having many practitioners within the unit.
Providing a designated fast-track lane where clients with minor illnesses and injuries are treated is another plan. Moreover, we are finding it feasible to have point-of-care testing where laboratories are located where patients are being treated to decrease delays, expedite triage, and increase the discharge pace. The cost of implementing this change will be surpassed by the benefits since serving more clients translates to increased revenues.
Need arises to have modern equipment for use within the emergency department such as computerized whiteboards that are synced with the electronic record system. The aim of such equipment is to ensure quick and instant conveyance of client information, diagnostic procedure, and test results to the team members. Subsequently, it becomes easier and quicker for informed decisions to be made and increasing the pace at which the emergency department flows. Studies by Cleverley (2017) shows that informed decision making that is efficient reduces the potential of misdiagnosis and the ensuing litigation that could lead to direct costs for health care facilities.
References
Clements, D. (2016). Outsourcing Technology In the Healthcare Industry: In-Depth Research to Protect the Security, Technology, and Profitability of Your Business . Morrisville, NC: Lulu Press.
Cleverley, J. O. (2017). Essentials of Health Care Finance . Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Jones, C., Finkler, S. A., Kovner, C. T., & Mose, J. (2018). Financial Management for Nurse Managers and Executives . Philadelphia, PA: Saunders.
Leger, J. M., & Dunham-Taylor, J. (2017). Financial Management for Nurse Managers . Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Niles, N. J. (2019). Basic Concepts of Health Care Human Resource Management . Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
