Importance Of Strategic Monitoring In Health Care Management

According to Sharma, Jain, and Arora (2012), strategic monitoring is a system set to measure progress of the strategies set in place in regular intervals. Strategic monitoring observes and records the progress of the strategies implemented in health care organizations. Moseley (2009) states that strategic monitoring notes down the “gaps between the initial assumptions and new environmental conditions and between the initial goals and current performance” (p.254). It helps to make sure the action plan is going as planned and if not what needs to be changed to make the plan successful. Strategic monitoring is particularly important within the health care industry for many reasons. One reason is that “the external environment is more complex

Another reason strategic monitoring is important is because “there are more laws and regulations that apply to health care and biotechnology, with new ones being issued at an accelerating pace” (Moseley, 2009, p. 255). With the laws and regulations changing so often in health care it is important to monitor the changes so that organizations can implement them in their strategic plan as they occur. According to Al-Abri (2007), health care organizations can have a sustainable competitive advantage today if they maintain the ability to change, adapt, and evolve to the changes occurring in the health care industry. It is important for health care organizations to strategically monitor their strategic planning process because of the fast pace changes going on in the industry.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 2013 Annual Progress Report on the National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care has set measures for hospitals to follow with aspirational targets. From Priority 2: ensuring that each person and family is engaged in their care, there are two measures. One measure is timely care, which is described as “adults who needed care right away for an

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2015), Body Mass Index (BMI) is very important to be aware of, especially for children, because a high amount of body fat can lead to weight-related diseases and other health issues. Most young children spend time in school, making these settings one of the best places to address childhood obesity (CDC, 2015). It is important to start these initiations in schools because that is where children have the most interaction. The hospital-provided dietician can obtain the children’s BMI and report it to their parents along with ways to improve the child’s health. For example, if a child has a high BMI then they would recommend ways to reduce the child’s body fat and then reevaluate every month for progress until that child comes down to their ideal BMI. Parents are more likely to work with their child if they know more about obesity and the dangers of it. In order to do the BMI testing, the dietician would use methods similar to those used in a doctor’s office. For example, children would stand on a weighing scale to obtain their weight in kilograms and then stand against a measuring tape to obtain their height in meters. After they obtain the weight and height of the child, they can calculate the BMI score using the BMI formula. Dale (2016) states that BMI equals to