Professor Patricia Becker
Textbook: Griffith, J.R. and White, K.R. (2007) The Well Managed Healthcare Organization (7th ed.). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press
Healthcare Enterprise Operations was one of my more difficult
courses because the material was foreign to my experience and there was a lot to
learn. In addition there is an inevitable level of tension between physicians,
who are primarily concerned with providing the absolute best patient care
regardless of the amount of work and resources required, and healthcare
enterprise managers, who are primarily concerned with providing the
infrastructure and services that enable best patient care while still balancing
the budget. It was actually a new idea for me that even “nonprofit” healthcare
organizations need to run a positive operating margin in order to modernize and
upgrade plant and equipment to keep pace with advances in medical care.
courses because the material was foreign to my experience and there was a lot to
learn. In addition there is an inevitable level of tension between physicians,
who are primarily concerned with providing the absolute best patient care
regardless of the amount of work and resources required, and healthcare
enterprise managers, who are primarily concerned with providing the
infrastructure and services that enable best patient care while still balancing
the budget. It was actually a new idea for me that even “nonprofit” healthcare
organizations need to run a positive operating margin in order to modernize and
upgrade plant and equipment to keep pace with advances in medical care.
Weekly online lectures and highly active Discussion Boards introduced me to a slew of new concepts. We reviewed the role of governance and
how the Board of Directors and senior management determine organizational goals and strategy and monitor organizational performance and quality. We looked at the role of information technology (IT) in supporting ancillary clinical services, business and administrative functions, and clinical performance measurements, including the quality measure reporting required by the Joint Commission and CMS. We examined the roles played by the physician staff, the nursing staff, and the allied health professionals of the clinical services departments in supporting organizational function and quality. Other topics reviewed included human resources management, techniques of leadership and the
importance and impact of effective leadership, especially at the senior executive level, knowledge management and support of IT infrastructure, the uses of IT in organizational strategy and marketing (websites, patient portals, and physician portals), budgeting including capital equipment management and supply chain management, security and privacy issues, and disaster preparedness.
how the Board of Directors and senior management determine organizational goals and strategy and monitor organizational performance and quality. We looked at the role of information technology (IT) in supporting ancillary clinical services, business and administrative functions, and clinical performance measurements, including the quality measure reporting required by the Joint Commission and CMS. We examined the roles played by the physician staff, the nursing staff, and the allied health professionals of the clinical services departments in supporting organizational function and quality. Other topics reviewed included human resources management, techniques of leadership and the
importance and impact of effective leadership, especially at the senior executive level, knowledge management and support of IT infrastructure, the uses of IT in organizational strategy and marketing (websites, patient portals, and physician portals), budgeting including capital equipment management and supply chain management, security and privacy issues, and disaster preparedness.
Looking at the process of healthcare delivery through the eyes of a Board of Directors member or senior executive at a large healthcare organization was both extremely difficult and extremely enlightening. The course was also enriched by two group projects (links attached). The first (written with Chris Beuning, Matt Reid, Rory Hand, and Shujen Yeh) was a case study analyzing costs and benefits to determine whether a community hospital should partner with its closely associated physician groups to form an Accountable Care Organization. We argued, and I still believe, that the invisible retrospective assignment of beneficiaries to the ACO's patient panel will make it impossible for the providers to utilize the case management techniques needed to actually produce cost savings and that the financial risk of forming an ACO was therefore too great. The second (written with Mary Dolan, Ajmal Kazman, Charlie Kesinger, and Diane Tschauner) was a case study analyzing whether a financially distressed hospital could save money and improve quality by outsourcing the monitoring of its intensive care unit (ICU) patients to off-campus physicians using electronic medical records, audiovisual equipment, specialized monitors and computer software, and telemedicine techniques to form an electronic ICU (eICU) system. Although the system showed great promise, there was no way the already cash-strapped hospital could handle the large initial startup investment.