Health Organization Evaluation
Research a health care organization or network that spans several states with in the United States (United Healthcare, Vanguard, Banner Health, etc.). Assess the readiness of the health care organization or network you chose in regard to meeting the health care needs of citizens in the next decade.
Prepare a 1,000-1,250 word paper that presents your assessment and proposes a strategic plan to ensure readiness. Include the following:
1. Describe the health care organization or network.
2. Describe the organization’s overall readiness based on your findings.
3. Prepare a strategic plan to address issues pertaining to network growth, nurse staffing, resource management, and patient satisfaction.
4. Identify any current or potential issues within the organizational culture and discuss how these issues may affect aspects of the strategic plan.
5. Propose a theory or model that could be used to support implementation of the strategic plan for this organization. Explain why this theory or model is best.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.  Description of the Health Care Organization Essay Example

Week 5 Assignment

Description of the Health Care Organization

The selected organization is UnitedHealth Group. The headquarters of UnitedHealth Group is in the US and it provides insurance services and healthcare products. UnitedHealth Group produces innovative products, approaches, and services for health management aimed to improve individual health and promote health in communities. The organization has about 168,000 employees within 21 countries, including the UK, Australia, Italy, Canada, Ireland, China, Philippines, India, among other countries (UnitedHealth Group, 2020).

Organization’s Readiness to Meeting the Health Care Needs

UnitedHealth Group has been growing and diversifying steadily since its inception in the 1960s and its incorporation in 1974. The organization has more than 168, 000 workers within all American states and over 125 other countries. UnitedHealth Group continues to invest in many products like Optum, Health Foundation, and Children Foundation. The organization has started nursing schools to train nurses and increase the number of nursing staff. UnitedHealth Group has also invested in technology to manage its growth and provide services to its clients and patients better. With the increasing and continuous investments in technology, education for healthcare providers, and innovations, UnitedHealth Group is ready to meet the health care needs of American citizens, and beyond.

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Strategic Plan

Growth

The organization serves almost 100 million people globally with more than 168, 000 employees all over the world. The majority of the employees are healthcare practitioners and IT experts. To serve the increasing number of clients, the organization should continue investing in healthcare training institutes and technology as well. this will provide the organization with an adequate number of staff to serve the clients efficiently and effectively. Investing in technology and online forums will enable the organization to manage its growth effectively (Pagano & Liotine, 2019). By using technology and online platforms, the organization will be able to provide services to its clients remotely.

Resource Management

UnitedHealth Group has managers globally. The managers eventually report to the headquarters. The organization is funded by donors and member contributions. The money is eventually channeled to the headquarters. Whenever a branch requires funding, the headquarters approves the budget and approves the funding.

However, to ease the management process, UnitedHealth Group needs to eliminate bureaucracy and give more authority to the branch managers. This way, speed up the management process and service provision to clients within other branches because the headquarters does not have to approve some tasks. Description of the Health Care Organization Essay Example

Nurse Staffing

UnitedHealth Group operations are funded by local contributions and donor funding. The organizational staff includes physicians and nurses who are dedicated to providing high-quality care to patients and clients.  Description of the Health Care Organization Essay Example

Regarding nurse staff, UnitedHealth Group needs to encourage the staff to participate in professional development programs to be at pace with the latest practices. The nursing staff also needs to participate in higher licensed programs to ensure they practice to their full scope (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). Moreover, nurses in UnitedHealth Group needs to continue research to enable them to provide evidence-based care. UnitedHealth Group needs to continue arranging for nurse-training workshops for the nurses to ensure nurses acquire knowledge and skills regarding the current healthcare trends (Fukada, 2018). In this manner, the organization will ensure that the nursing staff improves their skills and knowledge in the healthcare system.

Patient Satisfaction

In this era, telehealth has enabled people to access healthcare services while at home without having to travel. Investing in telehealth is one of the strategies UnitedHealth Group can use to increase patient satisfaction. Through telehealth, patients and clients will be able to seek advice and other care services while at home (Parker et al., 2018).

The organization also needs to continue addressing issues that are having the greatest impact on the healthy population. An example is the JOIN for Me Initiative that was launched to engage the pediatric population in an evidence-based weight loss program. Weight loss is a very important health aspect due to the high incidence of obesity and the health risks associated with obesity and overweight. UnitedHealth Group should invest in similar programs that address the most pressing health issues such as diabetes and cancer. Such programs are likely to increase patient satisfaction. The organization should also consider investing in cost-friendly services to further increase patient satisfaction.

UnitedHealth Group has launched online resources that help clients to do a cost analysis and compare the cost with other service providers. This helps people to make informed decisions. The organization should thus use such platforms to perform comprehensive cost analysis and provide relatively lower costs for their clients.

Current/Potential Issues in the Organizational Culture

Majority of employees at UnitedHealth Group, and especially the management work remotely with minimal face-to-face interactions. Additionally, even at the physical office, employees mostly use Webex and jabber to interact, instead of meeting their coworkers in the face. Lack of interactions may demotivate workers and also reduce collaboration and teamwork among the staff (Busari et al., 2017). Secondly, UnitedHealth Group serves diverse populations. This may present the challenge of providing personalized care to individual patients. It will be essential for the organization to provide linguistically and culturally appropriate services and programs to its clients.  Description of the Health Care Organization Essay Example

Model to Support the Implementation of the Strategic Plan

The Lowa model will be used to implement the strategic plan. The model focuses on organization and collaboration to implement the proposed changes basing on the best available evidence. The first step involves selecting the topic and then forming a team to facilitate the implementation of the strategic plan. Evidence supporting the strategic plan will then retrieved and graded. Evidence-based standards will then be developed and the strategic plan implemented based on the best available evidence. The last step will involve the evaluation of the strategic plan. This model was selected because it will allow the implementation of the strategic plan to be based on the latest, most relevant, and the best available evidence (Newell & Burnard 2016).

Conclusion

The selected organization is UnitedHealth Group. The organization provides insurance services and healthcare products. From the analysis, the organization is ready to meet the health care needs of American citizens, and beyond. The organization needs to invest in technology, promote education for its workers, and implement measures to improve patient satisfaction. However, the organization needs to address interactions, collaboration, and diversity issues in the organization. The Lowa model will be used to implement the proposed strategic plan.

References

Busari, J. O., Moll, F. M., & Duits, A. J. (2017). Understanding the impact of interprofessional collaboration on the quality of care: a case report from a small-scale resource-limited health care environment. Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare, 10, 227–234. https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S140042.

Fukada M. (2018). Nursing Competency: Definition, Structure, and Development. Yonago Acta medica, 61(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.33160/yam.2018.03.001.

Newell R &, Burnard P. (2016). Research for evidence-based practice. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Pagano, A. M., & Liotine, M. (2019). Technology in Supply Chain Management and Logistics: Current Practice and Future Applications. Elsevier.

Parker, S., Prince, A., Thomas, L., Song, H., Milosevic, D., Harris, M. F., & IMPACT Study Group. (2018). Electronic, mobile, and telehealth tools for vulnerable patients with chronic disease: a systematic review and realist synthesis. BMJ Open, 8(8), e019192. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-019192.

Salmond, S. W., & Echevarria, M. (2017). Healthcare Transformation and Changing Roles for Nursing. Orthopedic nursing, 36(1), 12–25. https://doi.org/10.1097/NOR.0000000000000308.

UnitedHealth Group (2020). UnitedHealth Group. https://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/about.html    Description of the Health Care Organization Essay Example