Health Service Systems: HSM 541 Final Exam
Week 8 – Final 1. (TCO A) You are the newly hired Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) for a mid-size hospital in a semiurban area of the country. Your first task is to develop the organization’s strategic plan that will shape the development of a comprehensive network of services for their community. The organization provides the usual array of inpatient services expected in a moderate-sized community hospital. A local nursing home and retirement community is for sale, and the organization is considering the purchase of that agency. Several physician practices are also interested in alliances with the hospital. There is a local county health department that provides some clinic services, primarily for the uninsured. You’ve been asked to give a presentation to the board of directors on options to restructure the local delivery of healthcare services. The hospital’s president has asked you to focus your presentation on the common elements a comprehensive delivery system attempts to accomplish and to highlight innovative methods of restructuring. The presentation will lay out the requirements of an integrated healthcare delivery system. (Points: 25) 2. (TCO B) 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? (Points: 5) 3. (TCO C) Some physicians and for-profit healthcare organizations in your area are refusing to treat Medicare and Medicaid 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 across the nation. Delineate at least three reasons that physicians have for refusing to participate in these governmental programs, as well as the impact this practice has on other areas of the healthcare delivery system. (Points: 25) 4. (TCO D) As the executive director of a managed care company, you have been invited by Congress to consult about national healthcare reform. Public outcry for changes in managed care practices is ongoing. Congress is calling for reform, and medical providers are extremely frustrated with how you restrict care and offer low reimbursements. Congress has asked you to discuss how the managed care industry can be overhauled to provide a more customer-responsive product and to control national 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? (Points: 20) 5. (TCO E) 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 healthcare services. You employ approximately 1,800 employees and already determined 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 say to him or her? (Points: 25) 6. (TCO F) You are the newly hired hospital administrator for Healthcare-U.S. System, a national system of tertiary hospitals located throughout the U.S. Your organization has just approved new monies for developing new quality management initiatives. The individual hospitals have implemented their own quality management programs. Some of these programs have produced stellar results and high levels of patient satisfaction, although others have had much less success. Your focus as the newly hired administrator is to develop a corporate quality improvement program that will be standard throughout the company’s hospitals. The quality improvement plan must be responsive to any local needs or issues. How will you craft that plan? What will you include in your plan? Include some specific examples of what you might measure. How will you get to buy-in from your individual organizations that already have their own plan? 7. (TCO G) You’ve just been hired as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for a new orthopedic physician practice. The new practice was created by two previously independent practice groups that had fines for governmental regulatory violations, as well as suspected fraudulent billing practices. You just received a subpoena to appear in court and testify as to your role in the organization and knowledge of billing practices. All you know is that the clinic has recently purchased a new electronic billing and medical records system that is HIPAA-Compliant. One goal of this electronic system is to address all areas of compliance and to clean up any issues from the past. It is also intended to position the new organization as an organization with an impeccable reputation for compliance. Articulate your vision for this plan and components that are required for its success. How will you justify the expense associated with your plan? Keep in mind that you have a newly formed organization and differing organizational cultures. (Points: 40)
