Reference no: EM132863573

Question. 1

You are a healthcare consultant hired by the Eastcoast Healthcare System to assist in evaluating an organization's strategic plan for the next 5 years. The plan will shape the development of a comprehensive network of services for the community. You've been asked to give a presentation to the board of directors on options for restructuring the local delivery of healthcare services. The hospital's president has asked you to focus your presentation on the common elements of a comprehensive delivery system and to highlight innovative methods to restructure. The presentation will lay out the requirements of an integrated healthcare delivery system and include how much emphasis should be placed on what types of primary, secondary, tertiary, long-term care, and palliative care services, and why.

Question 2.

You are the newly hired Vice President of Human Resources for the Bayside Community Health System. You've been on the job for just 3 months and have considerable experience in human resource functions. You have responsibility for all of the usual human resources functions, including the recruitment process, the training and development functions, and the retention plan. In addition, you have the additional departments of volunteers and the hospital chaplain services.

You've identified a number of serious organizational issues that are impacting the hospital. Turnover is high, there are many vacant positions, and the organization has a very high number of positions that are considered hard-to-fill positions because of national workforce shortages in nursing, pharmacy, and radiology.

The board of directors and the president know that they have serious human resource issues that will have to change in order for them to compete in the local healthcare market as an employer of choice. As in any healthcare organization, fiscal resources are limited, but the board is firmly committed to investing in a well-developed human resources plan to decrease turnover and stem the ever-growing turnover and vacancy rates. The president has asked you to attend the next board of directors meeting to share your plan for addressing these serious issues. What will you tell them in your presentation to address the retention and recruitment problems?

Question 3.

Some physicians in your area are refusing to treat Medicare patients for a variety of reasons. These controversial decisions present not only a major breakdown in the healthcare delivery system but also in the financing of healthcare for many individuals in this nation. Delineate at least three possible reasons that physicians have for patient dumping, the legal ramifications, and the importance of Medicare and other government-sponsored programs to the U.S. healthcare system.

Question 4.

As the newly hired director of public relations for a national managed care company, you know that the next decade in the delivery of healthcare services will bring about revolutionary changes in your member organizations. Public outcry for changes has been heard loud and long, Congress is calling for reform, and providers are extremely frustrated with how you control utilization and offer low reimbursements. Your board of directors is convening to discuss how the managed care industry can be overhauled to provide a more customer-responsive product and to address rising healthcare costs.

What are the high-priority issues that will need to be discussed to overhaul the managed care industry? What stakeholders must be considered in the planning process?

Question 5.

You are the VP for human resources and have been given the assignment to come up with a new healthcare benefits plan that will improve healthcare services for your employees and control costs. The health plan currently covers services provided in traditional healthcare services. You employ approximately 1,800 employees and already determined that in this new plan, you want to provide traditional healthcare services and further develop a more preventative and wellness focus. Your goal is to improve the health of your employees, thereby saving monies in your illness coverage as well as nonproductive time in sick days.

You are meeting with the president of the health system this afternoon. What will you propose to him or her?

Question 6.

You are the Corporate Vice President of Operations Management for Patient-First Healthcare System, a nonprofit hospital with seven rural satellite hospitals located within 250 mi of each other. Your organization has just approved new monies for developing new quality management initiatives. The individual hospitals have implemented their own quality management programs with varying levels of success. Some of their programs demonstrate stellar results and high levels of patient satisfaction, although others have much less impressive results.

Your focus as the corporate VP of operations is to implement a corporate quality improvement program that will be standard throughout the company's hospitals. The plan must also be responsive to any local needs or issues. What will your quality plan entail? Specify what processes will be measured. Will it include JCAHO or another accreditation review? Why or why not? Finally, how will you measure the results?

Question 7.

You've just been hired as the compliance officer for the newly merged Intermountain Healthcare System (IHS). IHS was formed by merging four healthcare organizations-three acute care organizations and one long-term care agency. Two of the organizations have a history of various governmental regulatory violations, as well as suspected fraudulent billing practices. You've been hired to form a corporate compliance program for the new organization. The plan will address all areas of compliance and will not only clean up issues from the past but will also position the new organization as an organization with an impeccable reputation for compliance. Articulate your vision for this plan, and describe the components that will make this plan successful. Keep in mind that you have a newly formed organization made up of four organizations that have different cultures and management structures.