Harvard Business School Case Study - Intermountain Essay

In 1997 University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) merged its two public hospitals with Stanford’s two private hospitals. The two separate entities merged together to create a not-for-profit organization titled UCSF Stanford Health Care. The merger between the health systems at UCSF and Stanford seemed like a good idea due to the similar missions, proximity of institutions, increased financial pressure with cutbacks in Medicare reimbursements followed by a dramatic increase in managed care organizations. The first year UCSF Stanford Health Care produced a profit of $22 million, however three years later the health system had lost a total of $176 million (“UCSF-Stanford Merger,” n.d.). The first part of this paper will address reasons

Western Connecticut Health Network (WCHN) is a fairly large regional network, with a scope encompassing the vast majority of specialties and services as would be expected between several hospitals and a plethora of outpatient facilities. A well-organized executive leadership model helps ensure quality, through the core values WCHN has established, whilst keeping themselves in check through third party surveys and analysis. WCHN’s quality improvements have simply built onto an already strong foundation of health care quality, with a focus on the patients.

This case study looks at the challenges faced by Matt Hayes, executive director of Riverview Regional Medical Center (RRMC). Previously named as “The Holy Name of Jesus Hospital”, the facility was owned and operated by Catholic nuns. The Hospital Management Associates (HMA) bought the facility in August 1991 and modify the name to Riverview Regional Medical Center. Hospitals that were taken over by HMA upgraded to state-of-the-art facilities that provided high quality medical care. RRMC run numerous private practices throughout the city and shared common medical staff with their chief opponent, Gadsden Regional Medical Center (GRMC). However, the common staff from the Emergency and Radiology department were not shared. Over the past years, RRMC has been facing multiple challenges concerning the different services provided by the facility (Swayne, Duncan, & Ginter, 2013).

I have chosen to analyze an organization that has helped millions of individuals in Utah and Idaho with their healthcare needs, Intermountain Healthcare, (IHC). For the specific purposes of this paper I will be representing the homecare department of IHC, located in Ogden, Utah. The individual I have selected to analyze is the branch manager who is over the Ogden branch. I have selected this organization and leader as I had the opportunity to work for this company for over 3 years. I have a high level of insight and personal experience that I can bring to this paper which I feel is very advantageous. I hope to learn how to improve the organizational performance of this branch by analyzing previous management and leadership methods.

The first step was to evaluate their current operations in each region. This was accomplished by determining data components from different functions of the current information system. The data was then evaluated on the benefits of combining the inpatient and outpatient systems. The next step was to look at the cost of implementation. Research was gathered from literature, interviews from experts, site visits, data analysis of Kaiser Permanente’s data, and focus group interviews. This research was reviewed and the project team enhanced their validation process. The third step was to examine the long term investment of the project. The project team determined one-time expenses and recurring expenses. Then the team developed different examples that would demonstrate financial approaches toward implementation for a ten year period. These approaches ranged from conservative to aggressive. The last step was to determine the net value by looking at the implementation lag and benefit realization. (Garrido) During the “go live” stage the team monitored and evaluated pre-implementation data compared to post-implementation data. Adjustments were made so that processes could be improved and benefits were greater.

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(Hill Physicians Medical Group, 2013, para. 2). The Hill Physicians Medical Group case study reveals several innovations which led to their success in delivering quality care and improving patient health outcomes. An analysis of their approach and process reveals success in quality and care management innovations, financial incentives, and lessons learned from their experiences.

The aim of the plan is to establish high quality as IHCs core business approach to extend full management accountability to IHCs clinical functions. Through the use of a clinical-outcomes-tracking data system, they used the outcomes data to hold IHCs associated employed and non-employees professionals accountable for their clinical performance to be able to set and achieve improvement goals.

Kaiser Permanente offers a holistic health care system by combining a nonprofit insurance plan with its own hospitals and clinics. Additionally, since the plan pays a fixed amount for medical care per member, there is a considerable financial incentive to keep people healthy and out of the hospital. Kaiser oversees, administers and provides a comprehensive care for patients, ranging from providing screening and diagnosis to filling a prescription to running a hospital where the patients undergo surgery. This strategy of integration is at least 10 percent less expensive than other providers’ services (Abelson, 2013).

The healthcare field is constantly changing and frequent practices and procedures are reviewed and updated based on evidence-based practice (EBP). Research and EBP guides us in identifying areas that need improvement or revision. Whether it be new practices, procedures, protocols, or equipment, nurses are expected to be able to adapt to change. At Sacred Heart hospital, a new intravenous pump (IVP) will be introduced hospital-wide. The purpose of this paper is to describe what leadership style, change theory, and collaborative practice will be utilized in implementing the new IVP and how healthcare economics plays a role in its implementation.

Delivering excellent care for health maintenance and acute illness, which meets quality, safety and patient experience standards, while reducing costs is the focus of health care organizations across the country (Kara, Johnson, Nicley, & Niemeier, 2015; IHI, 2016). Healthcare organizations are under deep scrutiny by public and government sectors to meet the IHI Triple Aim to improve patient experience, improve the health of populations and reduce cost of health care (IHI, 2016). However, these sectors use different measures to evaluate the effectiveness of healthcare organizations. Carolinas Healthcare System, which consists of over 900 care locations, including thirty-three hospitals within North and South Carolina, works to meet the Triple Aim and be viewed by the public and governmental sectors as a healthy organization. The question is how does one measure the health of an organization? Is Carolinas Healthcare System an example of a healthy organization, one that integrates leadership principles and concepts, utilizing fiscal responsibility within the organization’s climate, culture and behaviors? Or, is Carolinas Healthcare System an organization without a mission, vision, goals or strategic plan, on the brink of failure and without public and governmental approval?

To understand this process better, a case study will be referenced as a basis of the discussion of the paper. The study that will be utilized follows a multi-phase implementation of a program to change how to increase the Triple Aims within healthcare systems to deliver services within the community. The 2007 study was designed to evaluate how organizations could improve the quality, access, and reliability of care while being cost effective in providing healthcare services to the community (McCarthy & Klein, 2010). By identifying issues that impede providing these three elements, healthcare providers and organizations can utilize resources to address the issues and improve the patient’s health (McCarthy & Klein, 2010). Organizations can make a positive

Furthermore, HMC employed a compensation system that not only helped to attract and retain some of the most adept portfolio managers in the market, but also permitted to align the economic objectives of portfolio managers with those of the university. In other words, the structure and compensation system of HMC was designed specifically to achieve its objectives and to maintain the real long-term value of Harvard’s endowment

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Fixing problems that face health care in many health facilities demand a system wide set of solutions. The systems used in these facilities must be assessed and redesigned to identify factors that will aid in the achievement of the set goals. The enormous task of achieving the goals should be undertaken collaboratively by all the key stakeholders, who include, health care professionals, planners and policy makers, administrators, payers, and patients and their families. These partnerships must begin with a common understanding of the problems together with a shared commitment to cooperate and work together to eliminate the problems. With this knowledge, therefore, an action plan for redesigning the health care system can be developed and later implemented. For a successful health care service to be realized, there are various factors which should be employed and which are not found in the traditional business setting. These include unique economic processes, proper regulatory requirements and the perfect quality indicators. This creates a need for every leader within the healthcare industry to create or develop unique skill sets that will harmonize both organizational leadership and the inter-professional team development. It is, therefore, important to understand the comprehensive approach to the management of patient care and also how the concepts of team development and organizational leadership support healthcare leaders in creation of a patient-centric