Strategic grouping in healthcare allows healthcare organizations within an area of similar capabilities and facilities to be grouped and mapped geographically. Strategic mapping and group analysis can enable health care organizations to spot changes and any trends arising in the healthcare sector and in the particular service area the organization falls in to. This enables the top management in a healthcare organization to make prudent management decisions that focus in positioning the organization for better performance in the future. Furthermore, strategic plans that are dynamic and allow for group analysis and mapping enable business implementation in the health care organization (Swayne, Duncan, & Ginter, 2008).
Strategic planning through mapping and analysis enable articulation of vital strategic issues. It is important for health care organizations to plan for the future in order to enable all stakeholders to understand and appreciate the vision of the organization. Group analysis enables stakeholders including employees to have confidence in the organization. Employees who work in a health care organization that seems to be having a strong plan are likely to be more productive and hence provide better services to the patients. Furthermore, strategic mapping can enable the health care organization to establish a plan based on the potential number of clients it estimates may visit the facility (Swayne et.al, 2008). The scope of the competitors is also established through strategic mapping, and this allows for provision of services based on what is other health care organizations cannot offer.
Strategic planning for health care organizations enables such organizations to source for funds to enable provision of better service. Furthermore, such actions enable collaboration with other institutions since all the weak areas have been identified. Through collaboration in research and health care service provision, organizations are able to provide better services to patients. This further enables the organizations to have a competitive edge over their competitors in the service area.
Service area for a healthcare organization
In planning for a healthcare organization, it is imperative to have a clear definition of the organization's service area. A healthcare organization may define its service area based on geographical factors including the distance radius around the establishment. This approach is simple and direct but ignores the origin of the patient especially considering that some patients may originate beyond such a defined radius. In this regard, the most comprehensive way of defining the service area of such an organization should be based upon the origin of the patients being served in the healthcare establishment.
On the other hand, the application of this strategy may be difficult since it may be difficult to identify the particular patients in the service area. The best way to establish the origin of the patients would be to use their home address details. Such details can be captured using the healthcare organization management information system. The healthcare service area establishment should begin with obtaining data regarding the population of the target area. This should be followed by computing the total summation of the discharges in the healthcare organization of patients from the service area.
Finally the total discharge number of patients irrespective of where they live. It is also prudent for the total number of discharges in the area even from other health care facilities to be obtained in order to compare with the discharges by the hospital and establish its market share in the service area. In defining the service area, it is imperative to obtain demographic data of the patients.
Service area competitor analysis
The healthcare sector has changed in the recent past in regards to aspects such as increased managed care and increased efficiency. Subsequently, the bottom line for healthcare organizations has become paramount, and the need to check on competitor analysis has become critical. In conducting a service area competitor analysis, one would have to focus on the different competitors in the service area coupled with external analysis of the industry. When more patients choose to travel outside the U.S in order to get medical services, the competition among the health care organizations within the country increases. The health care facilities are forced to provide services to a reduced population with most of the procedures that would normally provide revenue for the organization being transferred to outside the country (Klauss, 2005).
In order to tame this phenomenon, it is imperative that senior management in health care organizations change strategy. This would be geared towards attracting more patients and reducing the movement to other nations. It is vital that the health care organizations locally improve the quality of services. This should be done after benchmarking with the facilities outside U.S which are currently attracting the patients. Furthermore, it would be imperative that the cost of services be reduced and made more patients friendly. This should be done without compromising on the quality of care.
Finally, it would be prudent if the local health care organizations partner with other organizations outside the country and offer telemedicine services. This would involve surgeries and other medical procedures being conducted through digital partnership (Klauss, 2005). Specialist from other nations can guide doctors in the service area through telecommunication technology including video conferencing. Such services can help with diagnosis and treatment services for patients. Such telemedicine services would help retain patients locally since they would save on transport costs while receiving same level medical care.
References
Klauss, G., Stab, L., Widmer, M., & Busato, A. (2005). Hospital service areas – a new tool for health care planning in Switzerland. BMC Health Services Research, 5(33). http://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-5-33
Swayne, L. E., Duncan, W. J., & Ginter, P. M. (2008). Strategic management of health care organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
