Introduction
United health care provides a platform for improving the health care system and addressing the United States citizens’ health needs. The system of united health has different features such as health insurances. The united health care covers individual and family health needs. Others are dental and visions, Medicare and Medicaid coverage. The united health care strategic plan approach in achieving the need for patients is improving on the medical services. This is undertaken through having high-qualified nurses, improving on the medical networking through offering health insurance and ensuring patients’ satisfaction. The study seeks to elaborate on the united healthcare system and the impact it has played in improving the healthcare. The main focus is on strategic plans that are laid in accomplishing patient satisfaction and health care resource management.
Success for United Health Care
The United Health Care (UHC) would continue to succeed through improving on network growth. In the current world, technology has contributed in greater margin in healthcare improvement and growth. The UHC website has developed features based on the specific customers target depending on their needs (Özaltin & Murray, 2009). Furthermore, it provides an icon for “Find a Doctor” whereby the patients connect with a doctor. This platform provides patient with a special and private conversation with a patient through a protected login.
Network growth is considered to connect the patients with the medical facilities. UHC has to take advantage of the new technology development through an initiating attractive website that connects patients with a physician. The UHC website should provide appropriate services such as insurance coverage information depending on the services being offered (Albert, 2002). The process of meeting with a doctor should be improved whereby the patients should have a platform for connecting to the doctor online. As the UHC operates in the United States, the website management should ensure contact information are provided in order the patients to contact through phone and request for assistance in case of emergency. Furthermore, the online platform should provide other services relating to the healthy living, dieting, and exercise. The login information should be used to locate the website visitors and sending newsletters regularly in building connectivity between the UHC and customers.
Strategy for accomplishing UHC growth plans
The growth plan for UHC is providing a connection between the patients and healthcare providers. The improvement on the health system requires good resources management and good staffing. Patient’s satisfaction is the main goal whereby the UHC systems would consider through developing important features that are attractive and friendly to all users. In achieving patient satisfaction, the UHC has to ensure the staffs especially nurses and physicians are respectful. Patients want to be treated and engaged using high-quality services (Bazzoli, Dynan, Burns, & Yap, 2004). This helps in the creation of a personal connection between the patient and service provider in discussing issues relating to healthcare. Patients are satisfied by dealing with respectful physicians as they engage peacefully in terms of the challenges and health problems being encountered. UHC has to consider having physician personnel who respects their website visitors and addressing them respectfully. This would attract them visiting the website again and seeking treatment, as they are satisfied with the services being offered.
Nurse staffing and the role they played in UHC
Nurse staffing is the major component that UHC should consider to achieve their patient satisfaction objective. Nurses play a major role as caregiver and ensuring the patients are getting essential services as expected. UHC should equip nurses with all the essential equipment of patient handling and provide continuous training to maintain high standard healthcare professionalism (Irwin, 2006). Patients consider care provider with an advanced understanding of their health condition as they expect excellent services. The management of UHC has the mandate of ensuring nurses are fully equipped to undertake their duties and exercising ethical relationship with patients.
Resource management is another key factor that UHC management should focus to ensure high-quality health care services. Replacing worn out material and equipment and replacing with the modern equipment gives a positive response from the patients. High and new technology has improved in the medical services whereby medical equipment has been modernized to meet the patients’ expectation (Bazzoli, Dynan, Burns, & Yap, 2004). It is the role of the management to ensure all nurses are well equipped with the skills to use these apparatus to achieve the patient’s satisfactions.
Strategic plan for Patient satisfaction and happiness
UHC strategic plan should focus on communication between the patient and caregivers. In most cases, patients tend to assess the nature of communication proxy that exists between the staffs and how they respond to their issues. The medical communication is always recorded for later references, especially in drugs prescription and administering. The caregivers are supposed to use the similar channel and to read on one script regarding their patients and improving their services (Özaltin & Murray, 2009). Patients’ satisfaction arises from observation and administration of medical services in the institutions. The UHC should consider having a clear line of communication whereby the physicians’ recommendations are recorded in the system. Good communication wins the patients trust and realizing they are medical professionals.
Data storage and record is another issue that UHC should consider especially in their system. The privacy protection and confidentiality are the key factors that patients consider. The code of ethics in medical principles, patients’ data, and records are supposed to be privately stored and protected. The UHC system should have a well-developed mechanism for protecting the customers information and hence never to be disclosed to third party (Albert, 2002). The electronic data storage and records help the UHC in retrieving the patient’s medical information. This helps in improving the services offered as the healthcare providers get the history of the patients. Patients are satisfied when their history information and records are easily retrieved in the healthcare system.
How to keep patients satisfaction
Keeping patients satisfied is among the primary aims for every healthcare provider, and United Health care is not an exception. Since physicians are the body that mainly works with the patients, united health care is committed on collaborating with physicians, for it to have more information on what the patients need, so that it can provide excellent services (UHC, 2015). A good example is the innovation and launching of Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), which is a program that facilitates payments for primary care providers. This initiative reduces the cost of health care, improves the quality of health care services, and gives patients improved experience with the provider (UHC, 2015).
In March 2016, United Healthcare incorporated Healthgrades patient satisfaction ratings on its website (myUHC.com), which gives the patients a change to rate their satisfaction on the provided healthcare services (UHC, 2016). Patients can rate providers (nurse practitioners and physicians) on areas such as how providers explain medications, whether providers listen or answer questions, how urgent appointments are scheduled, and the level of staff friendliness. UHC has also provided a FAQ document, with the aim of providing suitable answers to problems that are common to most patients. All these initiatives ensure patient’s satisfaction.
Conclusion
The patient satisfaction is based on the nature of services provided, treatment procedure and conduct of the staffs. UHC has to consider getting feedback from the patients to improve on the specific areas highlighted. Patients have the right to demand high quality health care and hence their contribution would help UHC management in improving their services. Technology development has contributed to network growth, improvement in the medical equipment and services. Resource management and nurse staffing go hand in hand to ensure patient satisfaction, improved services, and modernization of medical equipment. Therefore, the management has to consolidate the entire growth plan and strategize on appropriate mechanisms for UHC growth. This would be achieved through the selection of right medical personnel, achieving patients’ satisfaction and incorporating technology in development.
References
Albert, D. M. (2002). A physician's guide to health care management. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Science.
Bazzoli, G., Dynan, L., Burns, L., & Yap, C. (2004). Two Decades of Organizational Change in Health Care: What Have we Learned? Medical Care Research and Review , 247-331.
Irwin. (2006). Patient satisfaction : understanding and managing the experience of care. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.
Özaltin, E., & Murray, C. J. (2009). How does satisfaction with the health-care system relate to patient experience?. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 87(4), 271-278.
UHC (2015). UnitedHealthcare online. Physician Performance and Reporting Retrieved July 23, 2016, from https://www.unitedhealthcareonline.com/b2c/CmaAction.do?channelId=4171fceefbfb8310VgnVCM100000294ab10a____
UHC (2016). United healthcare to post patient satisfaction ratings in provider directory - news - California medical association. Retrieved July 23, 2016, from http://www.cmanet.org/news/detail/?article=united-healthcare-to-post-patient-satisfaction
