The CareGroup Case Study was comprised of various components. The core concepts were broken down into the history of CareGroup itself, CareGroup’s IT, the collapse of the network, dealing with the collapse of the network, and the lessons learned from the entire situation (McFarlan, F. Warren, and Robert D. Austin, pg.1). CareGroup was formed on the basis of three major Massachusetts hospitals; Beth Israel, Deaconess, and Mount Auburn (McFarlan, F. Warren, and Robert D. Austin, pg.1). After a surprising merger of Mass General and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, all three hospitals in CareGroup suffered great financial losses (McFarlan, F. Warren, and Robert D. Austin, pg.2). Due to the multi-million dollar financial losses, CareGroup felt they needed a change, which is when they added Halamka to their team, naming him their CIO (McFarlan, F. Warren, and Robert D. Austin, pg.3). Being in a financial state of duress, it is undoubtedly crucial for a new CIO to have the technical skills and knowledge needed to manage a health care facility. In reference to this point, Halamka had stated, “…I know all the technologies, I program in 12 languages, and I’ve written books on Unix system administration. I’m a doctor, so I understand the clinical domain and the technical requirements” (McFarlan, F. Warren, and Robert D. Austin, pg.3). Clearly this exemplifies his qualifications as the newly instated CIO. The technology being used by CareGroup at the time was described as being “antiquated” (McFarlan, F. Warren, and Robert D. Austin, pg.3), and soon, all of the hospitals were running on the Meditech system (McFarlan, F. Warren, and Robert D. Austin, pg.4). The Meditech system was a huge improvement for CareGroup, as the technology was much m... ... middle of paper ... ...e for a Phone Outage?" HIMSS. Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), 10 Feb. 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2014. . 2. "Develop a Contingency Plan." AAFP. American Academy of Family Physicians, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2014. . 3. "FAQ: Disaster Recovery Planning for Health Care Data." SearchHealthIT. Ed. Anne Steciw. TechTarget, May 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. . 4. HIPPA COW Security Administrative Safeguard Policy/Procedure Workgroup. (2006). Contingency Planning (Draft, Version 8). Wisconsin: HIPAA Collaborative of Wisconsin. 5. McFarlan, F. Warren. CareGroup. Ed. Robert D. Austin. N.p.: Harvard Business School, 2005. 1-22. Print.
SGH has been plagued with patient quality issues, therefore SGH finds itself in a situation which is inherently antithetical to the mission of the hospital. The costs of healthcare continue to rise at an alarming rate, and hospital boards are experiencing increased scrutiny in their ability, and role, in ensuring patient quality (Millar, Freeman, & Mannion, 2015). Many internal actors are involved in patient quality, from the physicians, nurses, pharmacists and IT administrators, creating a complex internal system. When IT projects, such as the CPOE initiative fail, the project team members, and the organization as a whole, may experience negative emotions that impede the ability to learn from the experience (Shepherd, Patzelt, & Wolfe, 2011). The SGH executive management team must refocus the organization on the primary goal of patient
To guarantee that its members receive appropriate, high level quality care in a cost-effective manner, each managed care organization (MCO) tailors its networks according to the characteristics of the providers, consumers, and competitors in a specific market. Other considerations for creating the network are the managed care organization's own goals for quality, accessibility, cost savings, and member satisfaction. Strategic planning for networks is a continuing process. In addition to an initial evaluation of its markets and goals, the managed care organization must periodically reevaluate its target markets and objectives. After reviewing the markets, then the organization must modify its network strategies accordingly to remain competitive in the rapidly changing healthcare industry. Coventry Health Care, Inc and its affiliated companies recognize the importance of developing and managing an adequate network of qualified providers to serve the need of customers and enrolled members (Coventry Health Care Intranet, Creasy and Spath, http://cvtynet/ ). "A central goal of managed care is containing the costs of delivering care, but the wide variety of organizations typically lumped together under the umbrella of managed care pursue this goal using combination of numerous strategies that vary from market to market and from organization to organization" (Baker , 2000, p.2).
After analyzing the Coastal Medical Center, it is apparent that the employees and staff have no conception of the mission, vision, and values of this health care facility. In addition to this lack of structure, CMC has many projects in the midst of production that lack support of a common goal, employees are unsatisfied with their jobs, the two boards lack ability to agree on strategic decisions for the organization,, and the medical center has a dismal reputation when it comes to quality care.
Hebda, T. & Czar, P. (2013). Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals. (5th Edition). Upper Saddle River. : N.J: Pearson Education
- Wolper, Lawrence F. Health Care Administration: Planning, Implementing, and Managing Organized Delivery Systems. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen, 1999
Moss, A. J. et al. Design and operation of the 2010 National Survey of Residential Care Facilities. Vital Health Stat. 1. 1–131 (2011). at
United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Contingency Staffing Plan for Operations. 2013. Print. .
Formed in 1998, the Managed Care Executive Group (MCEG) is a national organization of U.S. senior health executives who provide an open exchange of shared resources by discussing issues which are currently faced by health care organizations. In the fall of 2011, 61 organizations, which represented 90 responders, ranked the top ten strategic issues for 2012. Although the issues were ranked according to their priority, this report discusses the top three issues which I believe to be the most significant due to the need for competitive and inter-related products, quality care and cost containment.
Krive, J. (January 01, 2013). Building Effective Workforce Management Practices Through Shared Governance and Technology Systems Integration. Nursing
Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center. (n.d.). Emergency Response Planning: Disaster Preparedness for Small Businesses | pasbdc.org . Retrieved June 3, 2010,
The health care industry has changed drastically in the last 10 years in aspect to preventive services, facilities that provide services to the underinsured or uninsured, and perspective health care professionals entering into health care. The use of technology
...ntinually evolve, a certain degree of freedom must be felt by its members, bureaucracy represents and organization from which chaos has completely been eliminated. Nurse Executives, therefore, will need to encourage staff to challenge existing practice. Given the current environment, creative conflict will need to be supported in order for our continued growth.” (McGuire, 1999, p. 9) I believe that Capital Health is on a path for success. They have modernized there organization chart causing a more decentralized environment. This new atmosphere fosters empowerment of its nursing staff. This sense of ownership over their practice provides growth not only for individual nurse, but the entire profession. This positive proactive change of the organizational structure will allow the hospital to experience continued growth and development that is propelled from within.
Disaster Recovery Planning is the critical factor that can prevent headaches or nightmares experienced by an organization in times of disaster. Having a disaster recovery plan marks the difference between organizations that can successfully manage crises with minimal cost, effort and with maximum speed, and those organizations that cannot. By having back-up plans, not only for equipment and network recovery, but also detailed disaster recovery plans that precisely outline what steps each person involved in recovery efforts should undertake, an organization can improve their recovery time and minimize the disrupted time for their normal business functions. Thus it is essential that disaster recovery plans are carefully laid out and carefully updated regularly. Part of the plan should include a system where regular training occurs for network engineers and managers. In the disaster recovery process extra attention should also be paid to training any new employees who will have a critical role in this function. Also, the plan should require having the appropriate people actually practice what they would do to help recover business function should a disaster occur. Some organizations find it helpful to do this on a quarterly or semi-annual basis so that the plan stays current with the organization’s needs.
Potter, P. A., & Perry, A. G. (2009). Fundamentals of nursing (Seventh ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby Elsevier.
Most health care providers currently utilize electronic health records (EHRs), or will in the coming future. Network collapses, glitches, power outages and flaws within the system all have the possibility of occurring. Due to the plethora of sensitive information contained within the health care field, health care providers need to form backup plans. These backup plans will serve as preventative measures in order to keep the integrity of the health care data intact. Therefore, contingency plans are a clear necessity within the field.