Strategic management aligns an organization with its environment. This environment includes everything from general technological innovations, industry, competition, financial trends, regulation and politics, and customer preferences. Ideally, it should interface smoothly with business process management that governs an organization’s internal structure. Briefly, “anything an organization does in response to the changing environment is a "strategy" being pursued presumably to align the organization with its environment.” .
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) enacted in 2009 is an example of an environmental change. HITECH stipulates that healthcare providers receive compliance incentives up to 2015 to conform to the mandates of the act. After 2015, healthcare providers may be subject to penalties for noncompliance. This act also provides grants to train the personnel needed to support the health IT infrastructure. This health industry movement created by HITECH can provide a boon to an organization if they take the best advantage of it, or it could prove to be a major setback for an organization that does not have the sufficient connectional understanding to use it to its best advantage.
There are different methods of implementing these mandates depending upon an organization’s internal structure, its placement in the healthcare industry, its placement in its own community along with the services it offers. Studies show that these different environmental factors have a great impact upon the eventual success of a healthcare organization’s ability to make the most of the opportunities inherent in HITECH. Strategic management tools guide an organization to maximize the potential of opportunities so that “rather than hastily adopting expensive technology for quick short-term gains,” healthcare organizations can “best incorporate the context of their local environment into their strategy for adopting EHR and achieving meaningful use.”. This act alone provides a rationale for healthcare organizations to adopt strategic management. However, HITECH is just one example of how strategic management can help a healthcare organization stay relevant in its rapidly changing environment.
References
Healthcare IT News. (2012). Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. Retrieved 12 23, 2012, from Healthcare IT News: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/directory/health-information-technology-economic-and-clinical-health-hitech-act
Menachemi, N. (2012, 08 23). 'Meaningful Use': What Does Strategic Management Have To Say About It? Retrieved 12 23, 2012, from iHealthBeat: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/perspectives/2010/meaningful-use-what-does-strategic-management-have-to-say-about-it.aspx
Rowe, J. (2010, 08 26). Strategic management studies may help RECs help providers. Retrieved 12 23, 2012, from Healthcare IT News: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/strategic-management-studies-may-help-recs-help-providers
