Changing Health Care Delivery Environment

This research examines the ways in which strategic plan-ning and marketing principles may be employed by acute care general hospitals to enhance bottom-line financial performance, and to assure continued institutional viability. The changing health care delivery environment is examined in the following discussion. This examination is followed by a consideration of the application of strategic planning and marketing principles by acute care general hospitals.

As a result of a combination of factors (increasing costs of health care, changing societal values, advances in treatment therapies, changing demographics, and many others), the deli- very of health care services in the United States continues to undergo rapid and important change (Mentkowski, & Doherty,

1984). Changes in the locus of delivery of health care ser-vices--home health care, community health services, ambulatory care, and so forth, as opposed to hospital delivered services-- create new opportunities for, and new demands on the hospitaladministrator (Weiss, 1983).

For hospital administrators, one of the more

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tegy formulation from planning . . . compromises corporate strategic thinking." (Tregoe, & Zimmerman, 1979, p. 20). Within a framework where objectives and goals formulation preceed the strategic planning process, the process itself must develop (1) a statement of the organization's position--both the present and future positions, (2) an assessment of the organization's external environment--both for the present and the future, (3) an analysis of the impact of external environ-mental factors on the organization, (4) an identification and an evaluation of the opportunities available to the organiza-tion, (5) a program of action to exploit selected opportuni-ties, and (6) an organizational plan designed to support imple-mentation of the action plan (Rowe, Mason, & Dickel, 1982). The organization's external environment in this planning con-cept involves (1) industry structure, (2) economic trends, (3) market outlook, (4) competition, (5) technology, (6) regula-tory restraints, and (7) social constraints (Rowe, Mason, & Dickel, 1982).One of the primary problems related to the traditional concept of strategic planning is the rigidity with which a 16 plan, once made, is treated by management (Shaw, 1981). This rigidity is the adherre
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Porn Manning, External Environment, Pfeffer Salancik, HMO HMOs, Mentkowski Doherty, Mason Dickel, Hambrick Lei, Additionally CHAMPUS, health care, Boston Consulting, Tillotson Rosada, health care services, care services, strategic planning, acute care, external environment, target market, care hospitals, acute care hospitals, planning process, contingency approach, prospective reimbursement, health care insurance, acute care hospital, health care delivery,
Approximate Word count = 8797
Approximate Pages = 35 (250 words per page)

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