Critical Thinking Case Study - Business and Information Technology
The analysis of the present situation of the hospital should startand the identification of the problems should start with a quote from themission statement: "...to promote the health and well-being of the people inthe communities we serve through a comprehensive continuum of servicesprovided in collaboration with the partners who share the same vision andvalues". We have from the very beginning to of the coordinates under whichthe hospital operates: providing services and working with specificpartners. This immediately brings us to two of the main problems. Let's take the first issue: providing services. As it is presentedin this case study, the health industry has several particularities withregards to providing services. Contrary to other services, a hospital hasto take into consideration several delicate factors when providing aservice, like ethics, like the customer's background, social and financialcondition, religion or moral code. The moral and ethical code for thedoctors is perhaps the most delicate problem, because the doctors havetaken an oath to "do all that we can" for a patient, however, in somecases, not doing anything seems to be a more appropriate solution. A first
The figures speak for themselves, but I would estimate that the 15 % figurewill be overestimated if the measures I have described will be applied. Fixed costs are fixed costs because they do not change over aperiod of time. This may not bevery noble, but many of the issues relate to the fact that the hospital isacting as a company on one side (with costs and financial statuses) and asa charitable organization on the other. Unfortunately, much ofthe hospital's financial health is given by its relationship with differentinsurance companies and regulators, like the HMOs, the PPOs or the TLAs. In order to solve this problem, a possiblesolution would be the creation of a certain set of rules and regulationsthat everybody needs to abide by. The examples provided in the case study werequite a few and the general impression was that everybody was doing whatthey saw fit. You have a rent to pay, taxes, the electricity bill, etc. The latter is importantbecause it will allow the hospital to question the appropriate institutionthat does not abide by the letter of the contract. Thus,the cost per patient ratio has increased over the year. How are these moral issues to be handled' A second issue that comes to mind when reading the case study and thesecond identified problem is given by the fact that, as a provider ofservices, a hospital like any other business has costs and revenues and theservices it provides have to be accounted for. As it is described in the case study, the costs per patient haveincreased from $217 to $240. It seemed from the case study that the hospital did not have a clearframework of rules and regulations and that the management did not properlycommunicate with its staff. The solution is quite simple in its concept (perhaps more difficult in itsapplication): terms when the payment has to be made should be put in place,as well as a clear recognition of who is paying. As it is mentioned in the case study, "who gets covered, how much and whenwe get paid seem to be totally out of our hands at times". The problem with fixed costs reduction is that, in general, this ishard to do.
Common topics in this essay:
PPOs TLAs,
,
rules regulations,
fixed costs,
financial situation,
situation hospital,
providing services,
set rules regulations,
insurers regulators,
cost reduction,
set rules,
specific partners,
terminally ill,
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Acceptance Essays
