Strategic controls and monitoring tools

Organizational leaders must be aware of external forces that may impact their organization. Strategic controls and monitoring tools allow leaders to evaluate these forces and develop tactical objectives to limit negative consequences. For this Discussion, you explore how strategic controls, monitoring tools, and tactical objectives might be used to address issues impacting health care organizations.

To prepare:

In Week 1, the Instructor assigned to you a scenario that involves a health care organization with an issue requiring an evaluation of the organization’s strategic plan. Reflect on the issue and begin identifying and discussing evaluation or monitoring tools that would be useful to address this issue. Be sure to consider the following:

• What strategic controls (e.g., promise control, implementation control, strategic surveillance, and special alert control) might you use and why?
• What monitoring tools (e.g., Gantt Chart, Balanced Scorecard, Dashboard, etc.) might you use and why?
• What are two tactical objectives that the organization might leverage to effectively address operations requirements and limit negative consequences?

Reach a consensus of how the issue can be addressed using strategic controls, monitoring tools, and tactical objectives. 

Scenario:

Lake County Medical Practice is a large physician practice in Tallahassee, Florida providing one-stop medical and ancillary services to their patients. Of the approximately 80,000 patients Lake County serves annually, 38% are Medicare beneficiaries. Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reduced reimbursement rates by approximately 11% for office visits, surgical procedures, and a range of diagnostic and therapeutic services. Based on a projection from the chief financial officer, the new reimbursement rates equate to a $5.8 million reduction in revenue for the medical practice. This comes at a time when Lake County Medical Practice has experienced an increase in new Medicare beneficiaries, as one of the area’s medical practices closed its door after the founder and chief executive officer retired four months ago. Other Medicare beneficiaries have been unsuccessful at finding new primary care physicians, as area physicians are not accepting new Medicare patients. Therefore, Medicare beneficiaries are travelling at least 40 miles to the nearest provider to get medical service. 

Resources:

Walston, S. L. (2014). Strategic healthcare management: Planning and execution. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.
Chapter 7, “The External Environment and Its Relationship to Strategy” (pp. 141–168)
Chapter 8, “The Internal Environment and Strategy” (pp. 169–200)
Chapter 15, “Implementing, Monitoring, and Evaluating Strategy” (pp. 326–334)

Wayland, M. S., & McDonald, W. G. (2016). Strategic analysis for healthcare: Concepts and practical applications. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.
Chapter 3, “Research and Competitive Analysis” (pp. 11–15)
Chapter 5, “Strategic Industry Map” (pp. 29–30)
Chapter 9, “SWOT: External Opportunities and Threats” (pp. 59–62)
Chapter 10, “External Factor Evaluation” (pp. 65–68)
Chapter 17, “SWOT: Internal Strengths and Weaknesses” (pp. 115–116)
Chapter 18, “Internal Factor Evaluation” (pp. 119–121)

Behrouzi, F., Shaharoun, A. M., & Ma’aram, A. (2014). Applications of the balanced scorecard for strategic management and performance measurement in the health sector. Australian Health Review, 38(2), 208–217.
Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

Kim, H.-S., Kim, Y.-H., Woo, J.-S., & Hyun, S.-J. (2015). An analysis of organizational performance based on hospital specialization level and strategy type. PLoS One, 10(7).
Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

Sadeghifar, J., Jafari, M., Tofighi, S., Ravaghi, H., & Maleki, M. R. (2014). Strategic planning, implementation, and evaluation processes in hospital systems: A survey from Iran. Global Journal of Health Science, 7(2), 56–65. Retrieved from http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/gjhs/article/view/38626/22539.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2016b). Search the data. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/data-search/Search-the-Data

Valaitis, R. F., Hanning, R. M., & Herrmann, I. S. (2014). Programme coordinators’ perceptions of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with school nutrition programmes. Public Health Nutrition, 17(6), 1245–1254.
Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.