Introduction
Business environments often experience dynamics and swings which create short and long term effect on profitability and chances of survival. When faced with a business dilemma that requires critical decisions, companies resort to analytical tools that ensure competitive advantage besides cutting a market niche when making a capital purchase. However, there must be a clear justification for the purchase through review of benefits and projected results of the capital purchase in the organization. Thus, this reflective treatise attempts to explicitly review the benefits Maria Hospital will reap from the purchase of a modern patient records information system. Besides, the paper provides a justification of this capital purchase on management and organizational goals of the hospital. In addition, the treatise presents quantifiable benefits of this purchase on the general hospital goals across its departments.
Maria Hospital specializes in cancer treatment. However, data storage on patient records has remained sketchy and unreliable due to persistent use of obsolete data decoding software. As a result, there is need to purchase the modern Microsoft patients records equipment for accurate storage of patient information and medical records. Developed by the Microsoft Company, this system comes with sensor program software capable of detecting sound, movement, tracking information, and delivering the same at the convenience of a customer. Therefore, it can be customized by a user to suit his or her needs depending on the environment, the role, and even position in the industry. The market price of the equipment is $25,000. The Hospital should acquire this application to ensure that patient information is correctly reflected besides saving time which is of essence in the cancer centre.
Management Goals that the purchase will support
The main management goal in Maria Hospital is efficiency and improvement in information tracking and storage. Reflectively, this data storage application is capable of tracking past records which have been fed in the computer system. Since the application comes with an information application sensor, physical perusal of data will become obsolete and saves the precious time in the surgical environment. In addition, the product has direct value for money spent (Harrison & St. John 2010). As a matter of fact, hospital can customize the application to fit into their data system and fully control flow of information on patient records. Thus, this will go a long way to reduce the number of those employed in the records room and in the process save resources in form of wages and salaries to Maria hospital. The technology is simple and training cost is affordable compared to obsolete manual record system.
Another key management goal is control of quality and revenue generation. In addressing this goal, it is important to invest in an affordable and easy to manage system as a precautionary measure for cutting down leverages and unnecessary spending on maintenance. This data recording application is essential and may be of ready demand in the hospital environment. The expenditure budget on health care applications across the globe has been on an upward surge (Bloom 2004). This is due to the fact that many hospitals are slowly but steadily accepting the dynamics in information technology. In the last decade, it was considered impossible but it has proven possible with the help of three dimensional technological transformations in the hospital environment as being piloted in Italy. The application promises to integrate the older data entry applications and merge them with the sensory and customized application which can go a long way in controlling record keeping and simplify retrieval. In the process, the unnecessary leverages will be turned into revenue to the hospital since this system requires minimal manpower to operate besides being user friendly (Harrison & St. John 2010). To fully address this goal, the new data storage application promises to offer the best alternative at a cost effective price to rival competition and maintain acquired customers. Besides, the current projections target the free training application for hospitals that are ready to try the application.
Since the application has been piloted in Italy with success, it would present minimal challenges in implementation and large scale roll out plan. Besides, the application is strategically placed to embrace cost efficient technological application as desired by the hospital which is currently in the advance stages of cost cutting. Since the product is self explanatory, there will be no need of employing more personnel to operate it. Inspired by the need for proper data storage and use, the product is likely to win confidence of many patients since many value privacy and confidentiality.
For a start, the application will sell at a discount of twenty percent for the first one year as promised by its manufacturer. Besides this, it offers the most competitive price than any other product with less quality (MacKay & McKiernan 2004). In addition, the manufacturer offers free training on use and application for up to a team of 50 persons. In line with the management goal of value addition, it would be in order to embrace antagonistic value addition strategy offered which includes after sales services such as free extra application and customary request. Since the application comes with an interesting packaging and maintenance schedule, it is the most ideal for Maria Hospital which is currently searching for a professional but secure product for their sensitive data. Since the new system embraces cost efficient technology, it will be easy to clear out obsolete information systems for the state of art sensor enabled data monitoring unit.
Organizational Goals the Expenditure Would Support
The main organizational goal of Maria Hospital is to ensure long term operation. For implementation of the strategy, the hospital balances both the short term and long term consideration towards decisions making. Policies that require long term obligations are fulfilled and consider mostly the role played by resources invested in technology, continued innovations and efficiency in patients’ records management. Customer satisfaction is the focal point of the Hospital in attaining competitive advantage in the health provision market. Since this data recording equipment has a relative advantage of returns on investment in both short and long term, it directly addresses confidential and quality patient care. Though the initial cost of acquisition may be high, its life span is more than ten years.
Another important organizational goal is the culture of business leadership. The first of leadership culture dimension places the values of “flexibility, discretion, and dynamism at one end of the scale while stability, order, and control on the other. This indicates that some organizations values adaptation, change, and organic processes while others are effective in emphasizing stable, predictable, and mechanistic processes’ ‘ (Janus, 2008, p. 42). The second dimension looks at “internal orientation, integration and unity on one side while external orientation, differentiation and rivalry on the other end” (Janus, 2008, p. 44). This implies that the hospital should focus on their internal processes for success while others perform well by focusing on a two dimension of completing values framework. The internal and external reporting channels are then cascaded down to the rest of the structures. The two structures differ in the sense that there is an indication of unity, integration and internal orientation in line with the SWOT results (MacKay & McKiernan 2004). This is indicated in the diagram below.
Based on the first dimension of the competing values framework, the hospital already has a flexible business model and with the reserve funds, it is possible to adjust the size of the business or eliminate projects that do not reach the fund-raising goal (Janus 2008). Reflectively, for an operation to thrive, it must always be looking at new ways to survive, that is, “new way for fund raising, marketing, reaching out to the community and communicating with the public, therefore it is much quicker to adapt to change” (MacKay & McKiernan 2004, p. 19). Therefore, purchase of this altar modern patient data recording equipment will go a long way in balancing the two dimensions of competing value framework as part of the hospitals goal. Technological transformation through adoption of the efficient, confidential, and easy to manage patient data recording system will define changes that happen in the hospital’s financial performance since confidentially will eventually attract more customers to the health facility. Therefore, there is need for the hospital to adapt quickly to change, work smarter, and carry out complete overhaul of the manual patient record system for them to remain relevant in the health care service provision market.
Justification of the expense to the Hospital
Upon implementation of this technologically advanced patient data recording system, efficiency in terms of time management will improve by almost double. Reflectively, doctors will save a lot of time which would have been wasted in perusing of records since results are displayed by pressing a button. The same system is critical to the human resource management in tracking performance of medical service providers since details of the nurse or doctor are also capture per treatment. In line with the organizational and management goals, it will be possible to quantify operations efficiency and track customer numbers, response to treatment, and other special holistic endeavors of each patient.
When successfully implanted, the unnecessary leverages due to employee errors and fraud will minimize as the system has an application which track and record all documentation which are stored in a secure backup system (Slack, Chambers, Johnston, & Betts 2005). Fortunately, the system can be tailored and modified further to capture employee details and manage the workforce from a central server. Since Maria Cancer centre is well equipped with medical equipment, introduction of this modern information management application will complete the efficiency parameter of operations, accuracy evaluation, among other variables in management (Slack, Chambers, Johnston, & Betts 2005).
Conclusion
Conclusively, the process of making a capital purchase requires review of management and organizational goals to balance efficiency and relevancy in the dynamic business environment. Financial justification of such purchase is determined by short and long term projections in line with set targets. Through financial justification, it is possible to perform a cost and benefit analysis to establish an ideal value additional tracking variable. In line with the need for cost cutting, every decision must be supported by a scientific and quantifiable result measurement model.
References
Bloom, P. (2004). Circle of Influence: Implementing Shared Decision Making and Participative Management, New Horizons: Lake Forest.
Harrison, J., & St. John, C. (2010). Foundations in strategic management, Ohio: South Western Cengage Learning.
Janus, P. (2008). Pro PerformancePoint Server 2007: Building Business Intelligence, Alabama: Press Intel.
MacKay, B., & McKiernan, P. (2004). The role of hindsight in foresight: refining strategic Reasoning, Futures, (36):161-179.
Slack, N., Chambers, S., Johnston, R., & Betts, A. (2005). Operations and Process Management: Principles and Practice for Strategic Impact, Benin: Prentice Hall.