Strategic Management

Strategic Management

Introduction

Developing a strategic plan that engages community stakeholders supports the "bottom-line" by building loyalty in your primary customers. Through The Center's Strategic Planning Development service, rural health care organizations participate in fun and interactive planning sessions that motivate and inspire your facility to be the best it can be. Strategic planning services pair nicely with the balanced scorecard framework. Strategic planning uncovers the information you need to assess your organization's performance, then analyzes and organizes it to propel growth (Barry, 2010). You begin to develop a strong strategic plan by evaluating internal operations, external market forces, and stakeholder expectations. Your strategic plan should map out the most effective allocation of your resources. Select the most financially advantageous structure for your organization. Tailor product offerings and service lines to fit market needs. Think of your strategic plan as a living document — changing as new obstacles and opportunities arise.

The plan involved developing goals and objectives for the department; marketing the department's services and fiscal management to hospital administrators, medical staff, and nursing staff; building teamwork among the pharmacy staff; and improving the drug distribution system before instituting clinical services. Hiring of additional pharmacy staff was justified on the basis of work-measurement data. By adjusting staffing levels every two weeks based on work-measurement data, the department increased the efficiency of drug distribution activities; the pharmacy also implemented cost-saving programs like selection of therapeutic alternates and formulary restrictions. The savings were then reinvested in labor-intensive patient-oriented pharmaceutical services. A staff development program using staff pharmacists as preceptors expanded the breadth and depth of pharmacists' clinical skills. The planning efforts were successful because the needs of hospital administrators, the pharmacy department, and staff members were addressed.

Strategic plan

The goals are:

1. Assure access for all Iowans living in rural areas.

2. Assure access for all Iowans living in urban underserved areas.

3. Assure access for people with disabilities.

4. Assure access for the elderly.

5. Assure access for ethnic and racial minorities.

6. Assure access for the uninsured and underinsured.

Although the content of each plan differs, a typical health care strategic plan has the following components:

Data Points: The information that is used to inform the strategic plan. Data points include external and internal environmental assessments (see pages nine and ten for more information).

• Mission: The primary purpose of the organization; the reason it exists. The Mission rarely changes; it is timeless.

• Values: Guidelines for behavior; they describe the way in which people are expected to act. Values are also timeless(Polyack, 2011).

• Vision: Clear definition of what the organization will look like in the longer-term (e.g., five years); description of the services the organization will provide; the geographic areas that will comprise its primary and secondary service areas; the desired financial results, and more. The vision articulates the desired end result, not the means by which that result will be attained.

• Goals: Measurable statements of what the organization will accomplish in the shorter term (e.g., two years) in areas such as quality, physician relations, market ...