Currently, many health organizations are facing many challenges, such as the increasing cost of care and a shortage of medical professionals. At the same time, the increasing number and complexity of diseases are posing a challenge to the organizations. Health care organization evaluation, therefore, can help in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of such entities to improve the quality of care services ( Raghupathi & Raghupathi, 2018) . The Cleveland Clinic (the Clinic) is one of the leading hospitals in the USA. Thus, the evaluation focuses on the Clinic.
Description of the Clinic
The Clinic was founded in 1921 at Cleveland, Ohio, by three surgeons and internist who were serving in World War I ( Merlino & Raman, 2013) . The Clinic has experienced a gradual but consistent growth since it was found, making it one of the most prestigious health facilities in the USA, especially based on the quality of its services. Currently, the Clinic has 20 patient-centred institutes, and it takes care of about two million patients every year. Besides, it has 18 hospitals in the USA with a total bed capacity of about 5,895 patients, making it one of the largest hospitals in the country ( Merlino & Raman, 2013) . The Clinic does not only operate in the USA but also other countries such as the United Kingdom (UK) and Abu Dhabi in the Middle East. Even though the operations of the Clinic are mostly effective and efficient, the hospitals also face some challenges that may end, affecting the quality of health care services.
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The Clinic’s Overall Readiness
The overall performance and readiness of the Clinic are above average. First, the Clinic has sufficient resources to provide quality services to millions of patients across its hospitals in the USA and beyond. For instance, in 2012, the main campus hospital served 1.3 million patients ( Merlino & Raman, 2013) . The high number of qualified staff makes it possible for the Clinic to not only serve many patients but also offer quality services. The main campus hospital alone has 43,000 employees as of 2012 ( Merlino & Raman, 2013) . The overall customer experience in the organization is also high, particularly in areas such as appointments and addressing the specific needs of individual clients. As a result, it enjoys high customer satisfaction. Nonetheless, the organization is performing dismally in areas such as staff responsiveness, room cleanliness, and creating a quiet environment for patients ( Merlino & Raman, 2013) . Also, the Clinic is using effective, cost-effective strategies to reduce the cost of providing care to its clients, leading to proper utilization of resources.
Strategic Plan
Organizational growth is not only expensive, but it is also characterized by many uncertainties, especially when an entity is expanding globally. Therefore, for the Clinic to reduce the cost of growth while reducing uncertainties, it should expand its operations locally, in the USA. The growth should mainly focus on areas covering chronic diseases because of the surging number of affected people. It is estimated that about 45% of people in the USA are suffering from at least one chronic disease such as cancer, stroke, diabetes, and obesity ( Raghupathi & Raghupathi, 2018) . At the same time, like many health organizations, the Clinic is experiencing a shortage in nurse staffing. To reduce the shortage of nurses, the Clinic should retain, especially by promoting personal career development, provide lucrative salaries and benefits, and working closely with nursing schools to act as a pool of highly qualified nurses. The Clinic should ensure that it has enough nurses because of their importance in the healthcare system.
Although the Clinic is using cost-cutting strategies, resource management is still a major issue that needs to be addressed. Readmission is one of the major areas that are increasing the Clinic’s cost of operations. To reduce patient readmission significantly, the Clinic ensures that it provides high-quality care services to all patients while at the same time it should make sure that patients get all they need when leaving the hospital ( Merlino & Raman, 2013) . Besides, it should coordinate with other stakeholders to enhance the quality of home care services. The Clinic will reduce the use of resources when it lowers patient readmission rate. Moreover, to improve patient satisfaction, the Clinic should offer customer-centred care services. Specifically, every employee should act as a caregiver to enhance patient satisfaction.
Issues within the Organizational Culture
The Clinic has a culture of frequent and rigorous employee performance evaluation process, especially through an evaluation technique known as the Annual Professional Review (APR) ( Stoller, 2014) . The evaluation process requires employees to sign a one-year renewable contract. Even though the culture is associated with many benefits, it may create fear and uncertainty among employees, resulting in a negative effect on the strategic plan. Many employees are not comfortable with performance evaluation, which may make them not to embrace the proposed strategic plan fully. Besides, APR may reduce the commitment of workers towards the implementation of the strategic plan.
Model to Support the Implementation of the Strategic Plan
The implementation of the strategic plan should be based on the classic 4-step approach to strategic planning model. The model has four main stages of implementing a strategic plan ( Lamprou & Vagiona, 2017) . The first step involves understanding the current situation in the Clinic. It helps in understanding the current reality facing an organization. The second step is understanding where the organization wants to go, which is majorly a vision. The third step is about setting clear strategies on ways to achieve the identified vision. The last step is measuring and evaluating the progress or the strategic plan. The model can help the Clinic to implement its strategic plan successfully.
Conclusion
The Cleveland Clinic is committed to providing quality and affordable care to its clients. The Clinic is relying on innovation and modern technologies to achieve its goals and objectives. To enhance the quality of care, the Clinic should focus on meeting the specific needs of customers. The organization should provide customer-centred health care services.
References
Lamprou, A., & Vagiona, D. (2017). An innovative Strategic Spatial Planning Model: The Municipal Unity of Thermi (Thessaloniki-Greece) case study. Cogent Social Sciences , 3 (1).
Merlino, J. I., & Raman, A. (2013). Health care’s service fanatics. Harvard Business Review , 91 (5), 108-116.
Raghupathi, W., & Raghupathi, V. (2018). An empirical study of chronic diseases in the United States: a visual analytics approach to public health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 15 (3), 431-443.
Stoller, J. K. (2014). The Cleveland Clinic: a distinctive model of American medicine. Annals of Translational Medicine , 2 (4).
