Leadership Roles

Leadership Roles for Improvement Initiatives in Health Services Organizations Consider the following scenario: Rene is a health care administrator who works for an HSO in a large urban area. Because she was previously a health care provider, Rene is sensitive to the need for health care delivery that also promotes patient safety. As part of the responsibilities in working within the HSO, the board of directors has asked Rene about the needs of the HSO for fostering improvement initiatives. To that end, Rene suggested initiatives aimed at increasing patient safety in light of a recent report citing poor patient safety across all departments in the HSO. The board agreed and has made Rene responsible for developing a new patient safety initiative. Rene quickly communicated with several department leads to determine potential courses of action to improve patient safety within the HSO. A meeting to hear from each respective department with contributions on how to implement a new patient initiative is slated for next week. Several department heads and the board of the HSO have been impressed with the commitment that Rene has demonstrated thus far. How are improvement initiatives put into place within HSOs? How might leadership and the approaches used by leaders contribute to the implementation of improvement initiatives in practice? As a current or future health care administrator, you will likely encounter improvement initiatives aimed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of health care delivery. For this Discussion, reflect on the scenario presented and consider the role of leadership for improvement initiatives in HSOs. Then, think about improvement initiatives currently in place at your HSO or an HSO with which you are familiar. QUESTION 1 Post a description of the improvement initiative(s) currently in place at your HSO or an HSO with which you are familiar. Explain how leadership is related to the particular improvement initiative selected. Then, explain the levels of the integrated system of the HSO, and suggest two approaches that leadership might use to work within these levels to execute the improvement initiative you selected. Be specific and provide examples. WEEK 6 Control Mechanisms in Health Services Organizations Control mechanisms facilitate pathways that health care administrators might consider when deciding how to direct, adjust, and mobilize resources as they apply to day-to-day and business operations. Additionally, control mechanisms assist health care administrators in determining areas where opportunities for improvement might exist in order to facilitate enhanced business and health care delivery practices. As a current or future health care administrator, understanding how to interpret and modify control mechanisms is an essential skill that will contribute greatly to your decision making for enhancing process improvement. For this Discussion, reflect on the Learning Resources for this week, and consider the findings in the Singer article. Then, select a control mechanism that is most appropriate for your HSO or an HSO with which you are familiar. Consider how this control mechanism might apply to promoting a culture of safety as a process improvement initiative in the HSO you selected. QUESTION 2 Post a description of the control mechanism you selected, and explain its relevance to your HSO. Then, explain how you as a current or future health care administrator might apply this control mechanism to promoting a culture of safety in your HSO; explain why you would apply the mechanism in this way. WEEK 8 Project Management Approaches in Health Services Organizations Consider the following scenario: Ryan is a heath care administrator for a large network of hospitals. As its mission, the hospital network seeks to promote health access in underserved communities and to engage in innovative population health management projects to support evidence-based practice. While both tenets of the hospital networks mission are vast, Ryan is responsible for ensuring that each individual hospital within the network is achieving measurable goals for ongoing performance. In evaluating each hospital individually, Ryan finds that the majority of the hospitals are performing at a superior level in increasing health access in underserved communities. However, Ryan also finds that the majority of the hospitals are not demonstrating superior performance with ongoing population health management. Ryan has organized a task force to better determine new strategies to balance the two in hopes of moving the hospital network forward in the marketplace. Health care administrators face many challenges when implementing strategies for and approaches to addressing multiple projects and the scope of health care delivery on a day-to-day basis. In upholding the mission of an HSO, health care administrators must also ensure that each project contributes to effectiveness without hindering or compromising performance. What approaches might health care administrators use to ensure that projects are appropriately managed? How might project management approaches differ among projects that aim to enhance performance for the HSO? For this Discussion, consider the different types of project management approaches introduced in the Learning Resources for this week. Then, reflect on how you might implement these project management approaches as a current or future health care administrator. Consider how different project management approaches are more appropriate for some projects versus others in contributing to the value of an HSO. QUESTION 3 Post a description of which types of project management approaches are used by your HSO or an HSO with which you are familiar. Then, explain the strengths and weaknesses of using these types of project management approaches in contributing value to the organization. Be specific and provide examples. WEEK 10 Organizational Strategies for Management of Innovation Consider the following scenario: Chris is the health care administrator for Health Innovations South, a large network of regional hospitals and care centers that provide direct patient care and engage in health research. In a recent market analysis, Chris discovered that Health Innovations South is ranked among the lowest 25% of all health networks in promoting patient engagement, interaction with providers, and access to health information. Chris also noticed that all health networks that ranked in the top 25% had fully implemented patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) that allow health care professionals and patients to interact with each other and access health information to make informed decisions and to promote positive health outcomes. Chris decides to bring this matter to the board at their next meeting as a call for action to improve Health Innovations Souths performance in empowering health care professionals and patients with such innovation. Recognizing that such a change requires organizational capacity for fostering continued innovation in practice, Chris also realizes the inherent risk in mobilizing current resources toward development of a PCMH. However, electing to not move forward with the development of the PCMH may hinder Health Innovations Souths performance in the marketplace. As a health care administrator committed to innovation, Chris is confident that such a move is indeed necessary. For this Discussion, reflect on the scenario presented and consider the strategies that you, as a current or future health care administrator, might implement to improve organizational capacity for innovation. QUESTION 4 Post an explanation of how an HSO might develop organizational capacity for innovation. Explain how you as a current or future health care administrator might assess the readiness of an HSO to develop organizational capacity for change. Then, explain how your organization might implement change management strategies for innovation, and explain why you would use those strategies.