Pocahontas Memorial Hospital is facing a lot of issues that are preventing the hospital from achieving its mission of delivering compassionate health care. Pocahontas’ leadership team has to develop a strategic plan to help the organization achieve its objectives and meet all the health needs of the community. As the only hospital in Pocahontas County, the leadership decided to develop a satellite clinic to offer adequate services to more than 9000 occupants of the county. PMH directors conducted a feasibility study for opening a satellite clinic, and the study recommended that PMH opens the satellite clinic to remain competitive and to meet all the needs of patients.
Recommendations
PMH’s leadership team has emphasized growth. Opening a new satellite clinic with modern infrastructure and medical professionals will expand PMH’s reach and ability to meet community needs. Growth is an ambitious undertaking for PMH since it has been plagued with severe challenges in the past such as the high cost of care and shortage of professionals. The first recommendation is to create an inclusive vision that brings together the leadership team, medical professionals, and the community at large (Ginter et al., 2018). A united vision will get the medical team, and the community excited and build the momentum for success. PMH’s leadership team will continually share their vision as PMH embarks on the Redemption Health Project.
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One of the main challenges facing PMH is inadequate facilities and medical professionals. PMH has a capacity of 25 beds serving more than 9,000 residents of Pocahontas County. PMH should focus on building a comprehensive satellite clinic. Satellite clinics are ambulatory or outpatient by nature, but given the shortage of facilities and personnel in PMH, the new satellite clinic should offer comprehensive services (Zimlichman et al., 2013). Pocahontas County has a high patient to doctor ratio, and the new satellite clinic will address this problem.
Opening a new satellite clinic is an expensive financial undertaking. Financial, human resources, and technology are needed in the new clinic, and PMH might not have access to adequate resources. PMH has to mobilize a team to secure the necessary financing from different institutions. The money will be used in building the facility, buying equipment, and attracting skilled workforce to work in the new clinic (Mitton et al., 2014). The feasibility report concluded that a satellite clinic would be beneficial, but PMH will incur a lot of money before it can reap the benefits. Equipment such as MRI’s and CT scans are very costly but necessary for the new clinic.
Aside from the financial resources, PMH has to mobilize a team to implement the project. Apart from skilled workers, PMH will also rely on community help and donations during the construction of the new clinic to reduce costs. PMH should call for assistance from local high schools and colleges. PMH leaders should organize community events to engage community members, businesses, nonprofits, and influential individuals from the beginning to the end. Businesses and nonprofits are sources of capital for the project.
PMH has to be put in place adequate internal processes for the success of the new project. Internal processes include financial, human resources, operations, and other functions. PMH has to put in place efficient financial processes to ensure that every dollar is accounted for (Mitton et al., 2014). Opening a new satellite clinic and buying the necessary resources is not cheap and the hospital struggles with making enough money because of high poverty rates in the rural areas. PMH has to do proper budgeting and put adequate financial controls in place (Arnold et al., 2015). PMH also has to focus on improving operations through the use of technology and getting rid of unnecessary bureaucracy. Most projects fail because the organization fails to put in place sufficient internal processes of managing financial resources, operations, employees, and customers. PMH will not gain a competitive advantage by relying on the same traditional processes; thus it has to shake up things across all departments to improve operations and service delivery. PMH can partner with other medical institutions in the region to learn how successful large-scale medical institutions with many satellite clinics work. This is the first satellite clinic for PMH, thus by partnering with other medical and academic institutions; PMH will have access to expertise and skilled workers.
In conclusion, one of the most significant problems in Pocahontas is the lack of access to healthcare services. With the increasing number of aging population, there is a need for more health facilities as they cannot afford to travel all the way to PMH. A satellite clinic will help PMH meet the health needs of the community, but many problems come with building a satellite clinic. The project is costly and time-consuming, but PMH has the support of the community and other stakeholders who will benefit from the new satellite clinic. The project team has to develop strategic initiatives concerning finances, customers and stakeholders, internal processes and organizational capacity for the project to succeed.
References
Arnold, E. W., Goodson, J. R., & Duarte, N. T. (2015). Workforce and leader development: Learning from the Baldrige Winners in health care. The health care manager , 34 (3), 177- 186.
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health care organizations . John Wiley & Sons.
Mitton, C., Dionne, F., & Donaldson, C. (2014). Managing healthcare budgets in times of austerity: the role of program budgeting and marginal analysis. Applied health economics and health policy , 12 (2), 95-102.
Zimlichman, E., Henderson, D., Tamir, O., Franz, C., Song, P., Yamin, C. K., & Bates, D. W. (2013). Health care–associated infections: a meta-analysis of costs and financial impact on the US health care system. JAMA internal medicine , 173 (22), 2039-2046.
