Medical Services
A white memorial has arranged a new specialty care tower ensuring patient comfort and service excellence at a greater level. State-of-the-art technology is added to the new center with innovative design features capable of providing a new healing environment. The hospital is much caring about keeping the spiritual component of the healing process. It is committed to keeping the Christian tradition of caring for the whole person- body, mind, and spirit. The medical services of the hospital include the following:
Behavioral medicine services: In the Behavioral Medicine Services Department, an adult psychiatric facility is arranged for curing patients with impaired behavioral function. An interdisciplinary, family-centered, and culturally sensitive approach is followed by the organization to bring back the patients in the social life with an improved level of functioning. After completing the treatment of each patient, they will refer back to the referring physician. Most of the health plans of the HMOs such as Medicare, Medi-Cal, and other private health plans. The environment of the hospital is adequate for ensuring the safety of the patients with weak mental behavior. A new program is arranged in the organization to help regain the functional ability of the mental patients. (Behavioral medicine services, 2008).
Cancer Services: The cancer cure center of the organization is accredited by the American College of Surgeons (ACoS) Commission on Cancer. From the stage of screening to recovery, dedicated services are ensured at each level to each patient. It acts as a comprehensive cancer care center for the community. A full range of diagnostic and treatment options with sophisticated technology is adopted for the treatment with utmost care to the patients. All types of cancer treatment are arranged in the center. Rehabilitation services are also will provide for the patients. (Cancer services, 2008).
Heart and Vascular Care Center of White Memorial is providing services from preventive health care to the latest surgical treatments. Along with advanced technology and skilled physicians and staff, a warm and supportive environment is also arranged in the center. Supports from family members of the patients are co-coordinated with the curing process.
Orthopedic Services: Application of innovative skills and state of art technology constitutes excellent services to the patients of the center. The main features of the services of the hospital are committed to quality services, compassionate care, and clinical excellence. The latest technology and advanced medical procedure are applied for ensuring optimum results. (Orthopedic services, 2008).
The current strategic focus of the White Memorial Hospital
The vision of the White Memorial hospital is to become a regionally respected specialty and health care in Los Angeles through innovative and excellent quality service along with the legacy of primary care and medical education. They focus on specific strategies for attaining the vision and targeted goals. Those are discussed below:
Recruitment: In the recruitment process, a standardized screening and selection process is applied for ensuring the selection of the best-fit candidates.
Retention: To provide a better working environment in the center, adequate steps are followed. A better payment system and benefits are provided for the employees by considering their performance level. Professional development opportunities are also provided for them. The performance management system is also employed in the organization.
Clinical Quality: Evidence-based best practice guidelines are used in the organization to ensure the quality of the outcomes. It will help to reduce the variation in clinical processes.
Patient Safety: A safety culture is developed in the organization through follow-up of the John Hopkins approach in assessing and strengthening the safety of the patient.
The strategic objective of the hospital is to be positioned as a regional referral center for orthopedics and cardiology. It objects to entering into new markets. It also aimed to increase the revenue of the business through proper strategies. (Summary of our strategic plan).
Revenue Building: The hospital must be run as efficiently as possible under especially since it is a non-profit organization. According to a document published titled ‘economic impact’, the hospital just about covers its expenses. In the past year, the hospital had total revenue of 234 million USD and total expenses of 230 million USD. (Economic impact). Even though the figures are appreciable, the hospital intends to engage in a process of revenue building in the following ways.
Medicare: Even though the Medicare policy of the government is an excellent way to help poor and uninsured patients, each hospital has to be efficient in handling cases covered by it. It is a well-known fact that the US public health care system is under a lot of strain on finance, time, personnel, and other resources. Any inefficiency in handling Medicare cases will only add to this strain on the system. It is proposed that the total length of stay of Medicare patients be maintained at 5% of total inpatient stay. The number of Medicare patients treated by the hospital is increasing year by year as can be seen by the following figures. In 2006 the number of patients was 326 which increased to 346 in 2007 and 349 in 2009.
Education and events strategy: It is proposed to maintain the education of physicians and staff about operational efficiency throughout the whole organization. The whole strategy that is developed by the management committee about revenue-building should be imparted to staff at all levels. This is essential to see that the strategy will be effective and will achieve the objectives set out for the coming years.
Quality and safety: The hospital has been able to provide a high level of quality and safety despite being a non-profit organization. This is essential to ensure patient satisfaction which in turn can result in increased donations and voluntary services to the hospital. People will be happy to contribute only if the quality and safety provided by the hospital are high. Moreover, voluntary services from physicians and other technical and administrative areas will also be high. This is especially true in the case of interns who need experience in working in a well-run and efficiently managed hospital.
Medication errors: In a busy hospital like White Memorial, it is natural that medication errors could occur due to unintentional acts of physicians, nurses, or pharmacy dispensers. Illegibility of prescriptions and similarity in the names of drugs are the major causes of medication errors in hospitals. It would be ideal if this error is reduced to a minimum or eliminated. The best possible way would be to incorporate electronic prescription software by which illegibility will not become a factor.
A system of double-checking by pharmacists who hand over the medicines and nurses can also reduce the chances of a wrong drug being administered to the patient. Apart from the cost of the drug being wasted, a wrong administration of the drug could have serious repercussions on the health of the patient. This will also add to the costs of the hospital due to corrective treatment and additional stay (by the patients) in the hospital.
Outpatient pharmacy costs: Many outpatients are treated at the hospital and in most cases, some drug is prescribed as a part of treatment. It is proposed that a certain percentage of additional margins on cost be made on such drugs to increase the profit from such drugs sold by the pharmacy.
Other methods to keep costs down: Reimbursements of medical costs are a part of programs like Medicare and Medi-CAL. This must be done efficiently by keeping up-to-date concurrent reviews of the same. MS-DRG coding in Medicare should be understood by physicians for efficient handling of the treatment. Another factor that increases costs is nosocomial infections that affect patients after they are admitted to the hospital.
If patients are infected due to this factor, additional treatment especially using anti-biotic is necessary, adding to the total cost. Steps should be taken to see that such infections are kept to a minimum. A high level of trust should be built with a physician who works voluntarily or as a staff by the management. This will ensure a high level of cooperation which will result in increased efficiency and better management of costs.
The White Memorial Hospital is a charity organization that utilizes a lot of voluntary services to staff its operations. Steps should be taken to see that more voluntary work is availed of. Physicians can be requested to donate a certain number of their hours in a week as a part of this. Interns can be encouraged to work as volunteers in exchange for the valuable experience that they get from working here. Donations from the public and other charity organizations should be increased through fundraising campaigns and drives.
References
Behavioral medicine services. (2008). White Memorial Medical Center. Web.
Cancer services. (2008). White Memorial Medical center. Web.
Hear and vascular care center. (2008). White Memorial Medical center. Web.
Orthopedic services. (2008). White Memorial Medical centre. Web.
Summary of our strategic plan. White Memorial Hospital. (Provided by the customer). Economic Impact. Web.