Introduction
Coastal Medical Center (CMC) is a regional referral hospital that specializes in the provision of a full range of services. CMC operates in a populated coastal city with many potential clients (Harrison, 2016). The locality’s population is on an upward trajectory as the region’s planning council projects sustained population growth. The region is also witnessing increasing wealth and steady economic expansion. Against this backdrop, the study audits CMC based on the Baldrige criteria.
Baldrige Criteria
The customer focus approach considers how an entity interacts with its patients and other stakeholders in the pursuit of long-term success. The engagement strategy also addresses the manner in which the organization pays attention to customers’ voices, establishes customer relationships, and relies on customer information to identify and improve innovation opportunities (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2012). Regarding customers’ voices, the strategy focuses on the approach that organizations use to get information from customers and other stakeholders. Getting patient information might occur through social media or any other appropriate platforms. The organization might also consider avenues that it uses to get patient feedback regarding the quality of services and support to patients and stakeholders. Listening to competitors is also a part of the approach. What is more, monitoring the conduct of competitors would provide important information for future action.
Determining the level of patient satisfaction and engagement is also critical. Securing the engagement of stakeholders is necessary for addressing patient satisfaction and engagement concerns. Assessment of these variables should be geared towards the retrieval of actionable information. Moreover, organizations need to use such information to improve future customer or general stakeholder experience. SWOT analysis is essentialtowardsproviding a basis for employing the customer focus approach.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis covers the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that an organization faces (Mohammad & Dileepan, 2016). According to Harrison (2016), CMC specializes in the provision of a full range of services. Moreover, CMC operates in a populated area which implies the presence of many potential clients. In addition, the wealth of the region is increasing as reflected by high levels of per capita income.
Being a referral hospital, the hospital offers almost all healthcare services. Consequently, the center has various strengths that include operating in a populous area, providing a range of services, and operating in a wealthy region. However, CMC has weaknesses that include extending high-cost medical services and experiencing declining revenues. According to Harrison (2016), the region where CMC operatesfaces high and rising health costs compared to other areas of the state. Thus, lowering healthcare costs is one of the goals for the city.
Despite the weaknesses, CMC has opportunities to improve its performance. For instance, the region is experiencing reductions in the level of unemployment. The implication is that area residents would get more incomeand invest more in their health (Morley & Cashell, 2017). In addition, CMC has prominent wealthy, and influential trustees. The firm would benefit from working with these trustees to improve its positionand explore ways of improving its image. Moreover, rising health costs provides the firm with the opportunity to invest in researchand come up with innovative ways of delivering health services. Other opportunities exist for CMC staff to cooperate with the board with the objective of improving performance. The center might also explore the opportunity of improving nurses’ attitudes so that they work in a satisfactory way. In addition, CMC has the opportunity to improve its relationship with customers by addressing the length of patient stay in the facility. According to Harrison (2016), patients’ stay at CMC is 9.2 days compared to the state’s average of 6.4 days.
Threats that CMC faces include competition from established players such as Johnson Medical Center (JMC) and Lutheran Medical Center (CMC). In addition, CMC’s health services are costly compared to those of its competitors. Many of CMC’s patients require specialized services, which push costs high (Harrison, 2016). Moreover, CMC’s excessive costs resulted from material, labor, and services purchases. Fierce competition and rising costs of health services have resulted in declining revenues for CMC.
CMC SWOT Analysis
Action Plan-Proposals
To address patient and other stakeholder concerns, the organization might consider various proposals. Given that the primary role of the firm is the extension of healthcare services, it would be wise to focus on this issue. Based on the Baldrige criteria, the organization needs to improve the quality of care by incorporating innovative working approaches. This is achievable through innovative practices that meet changing customer expectations. Innovation is essential to efforts to enter new markets and attract new clients. Moreover, issues of poor health services provide the firm with an opportunity to improve its position. Entry into medical enterprise joint ventures would also present the firm with an opportunity to improve its services.
Investing in research and employing technology are deemed as being among the best strategies because they would allow the firm to reduce healthcare costs, and deliver quality services. Moreover, training CMC staff on cooperating with the board would be necessary towards improving performance. The training should extend to cover nurses’ attitudes so that they work satisfactorily. Digitizing operations at CMC would be a great measure because it would lower the length of patient stay in the health center. As Harrison (2016) noted, staff training, investment in research and innovation offer the best options for any firm seeking improvement on service delivery.
Benchmarking
JMC, a major competitor of CMC, is located approximately two miles way. JMC owns nursing homes and other facilities such as a wellness center and ambulance services. The firm has capacity to offer an array of health services to the city’s population (Keehan, et al., 2017). JMC relies on technology in improving the quality of services that it delivers to its clients. Unlike CMC, JMC’s revenues have been increasing. A part from JMC, LMC is another key competitor for CMC. The latter firm focuses on acute care unlike CMC that covers general care (Baxter et al., 2018). LMC enjoys a high occupancy rate of 75 per cent. LMC also operates under a different philosophy because it is not profit-oriented. CMC needs to borrow from the two competitors given the levels of successes they are enjoying.
Conclusion
A review of CMC’s services shows that its costs are high. Although the costs of services are high because of specialized services, customers prefer lower costs. Hence, the medical facility would need to address the cost issue. Another concern that shows thatCMC’s services are of low quality is the questionable nurses’ attitudes. Negative attitudes are detested because they undermine the delivery of quality services. Extended patient stay at the hospital is also another drawback thatnegatively affects the facility’s relationship with its clients. CMC would benefit from exploiting existing opportunities through innovation and embracement of joint ventures.
References
Baxter, S., Johnson, M., Chambers, D. et al. (2018). The effects of integrated care: A systematic review of UK and international evidence. BMC Health Serv Res 18(350). Web.
Harrison, J.P. (2016). Essentials of strategic planning in healthcare. Health Administration Press.
Keehan, S. P. et al. (2017). National health expenditure projections, 2016–25: Price increases, aging push sector to 20 percent of economy. Health Affairs, 36(3), 553–563. Web.
Mohammad, A., & Dileepan, P. (2016). A SWOT analysis of big data. The Journal of Education for Business, 91(5), 1-6. Web.
Morley, L., & Cashell, A. (2017).Continuing medical education: Collaboration in health care. Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences 48(2), 207-216. Web.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (2012). 2011-2012 health care criteria for performance excellence. Gaithersburg.