Vertical Initiatives

The health care system must change to improve our nation’s health and takes strong steps to address the unsustainable growth of health care costs in America. We still have a long way to go before our health system become effective. We still have population that do not have insurance, have difficulties accessing their health care, or their needs are not met within the healthcare system. It is an investment in prevention and wellness and increasing access to primary care physician.

The reasoning to Intermountain Health Care’s approach to the management of health services can be related back to a ‘crazy’ idea James was introduced to in a Lecture he attended conducted by Dr. W. Edwards Deming. This idea argues that higher quality could lead to lower cost. As we identified previously, IHCs business goals relate to the optimization of processes and services in order to minimize the quality of waste in terms of cost. This sort of business model will produce a high quality business, reflecting optimisation of processes and resources which will aid positive services to patients - whilst maintaining the financial stability of the business in the most effective way possible.

With the focus on these five areas, Governments in each country are creating health systems that aim to provide services that are affordable, equitable and accessible. To achieve a sustainable health system, cooperation and participation of all health care providers is vital. This will work towards WHO’s goal of achieving “better health for all”

healthcare services.2,3 Taken together, these challenges place significant stress on the healthcare system, prompting system stakeholders

Vertically integrated health care system that I have chosen is the Veterans Administration (VA) it's accountable for a large patient population for military veterans. As stated, The Veterans Health Administration is America’s largest integrated health care system with over 1,700 sites of care, serving 8.76 million Veterans each year (VA.GOV). The services that's provided to veterans is health care, rehabilitation, employment, education, home loan guaranties, and life insurance coverage. VA control costs by buying in bulk and control costs by engaging in a deep, single-source relationship with each patient. The Assistant Secretary for Management oversees all resource requirements, development and implementation of agency performance measures,

Due to many changes in health service organizations’ internal and external environment, planning can be sometimes onerous (Longest & Darr, 2008, p. 366). Therefore, a well thought strategic plan will guide leaders and keep them focus on the organization’s mission. In health service organizations, strategic planning is emanated at the top level of the pyramid, then pass down to others in leadership positions (Longest & Darr, 2008, p. 366). A strategic planning process consists of many steps: a situational analysis, external environment analysis, internal environment analysis, strategy formulation, strategic implementation, and strategic control. As mentioned before, health service organization faced many challenges, a strategic planning not only helps with planning, controlling, and decision making, but it also allows management to analyze their strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats. Again, the strategic planning process has proven to be effective when implemented by the entire organization.

Analyzing a complex health system is necessary to understand the various leadership roles and how that can affect a dynamic system. In this paper, the Cypress Regional Health Authority will be analyzed with a focus on a subsystem in Leader Saskatchewan. A critique of the system and its strengths and areas for improvement will follow. Finally, a discussion into how that system relates to the LEADS framework will occur.

How can ideas such as the Triple Aim initiative and patient centeredness help to improve performance in the U.S. health system?

Health care systems are organizations that are formed to meet the overall health needs of the population. Health care is regarded as one of the leading cause in promoting not only physical and mental health but the well-being of the population. Legislation is implemented requiring government to offer services to all members of its society. The role of health services and the organizations that provide aid is to focus on the health of an individual and to uphold their human rights. According to WHO (2013), a “well-functioning health care system requires a robust financing mechanism, a well-trained and adequately-paid workforce, reliable information on which to base decisions and policies, and well maintained facilities and logistics to deliver quality medicines and technologies (World Health Organization; 2013).

It is important to do accountability because it is an only way of enhancing task incentive. This makes the organization's policies responsive and also effective. That is why different mechanisms of accountability have come up including hospital boards, public campaigns, and village health committees. These are being used to bring awareness publicly and also globally in implementation of health services and programs (Herzlinger 2006). They support a wide range of activities which include

Improving the quality of health care system is the main goal of this organization. In this case study we will be talking about the strategic plans being made by the organization for the next decade to deal with the problems of resource management, network growth, patient satisfaction as well as nurse staffing. The readiness of the organization towards catering the citizens' needs for health care will also be discussed in this case study (Goetsch and Davis, 2010).

• Foster innovative and sustainable activities and interventions that improve the quality and value of health care.

These health care organizations have two types of planning to follow, and they are tactical and strategic planning. When tactical planning takes place, there is a short term goal in mind (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). The course of action for a tactical plan is to achieve a goal within a year or less time period (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). A tactical plan has a smaller scope and shorter time span than a strategic plan (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). It takes several tactical plans to achieve the strategic plan (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). Strategic planning differs from tactical planning, because in strategic plan, the course of action is to achieve goals for the long term (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). Strategic planning goals are usually wanted to be completed with five years (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). The organization’s mission statement purpose and direction are reflected upon strategic planning (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). Top management must view reports on operations, external environments and finances when looking to develop a strategic plan (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). The development of tactical plans are influenced by strategic plans (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102).

A country’s economy and well-being depends upon how strong its healthcare system is. A country would grow into a stronger nation if the people are mentally and physically stronger. Moreover, healthcare systems are usually complex and complicated systems and thus, they need a lot of attention. As Donley (2005) states, “[t]he changing patterns of health care delivery have increased complexity in all practice environments” (p. 314). By a complicated system, it means how different healthcare organizations together play a pivotal role in measuring success of a country’s healthcare system. These healthcare organizations further rely on various departments within the system which are in turn led by various leaders. Thus, it is evident how leaders are the key link in deciding the fate

Fixing problems that face health care in many health facilities demand a system wide set of solutions. The systems used in these facilities must be assessed and redesigned to identify factors that will aid in the achievement of the set goals. The enormous task of achieving the goals should be undertaken collaboratively by all the key stakeholders, who include, health care professionals, planners and policy makers, administrators, payers, and patients and their families. These partnerships must begin with a common understanding of the problems together with a shared commitment to cooperate and work together to eliminate the problems. With this knowledge, therefore, an action plan for redesigning the health care system can be developed and later implemented. For a successful health care service to be realized, there are various factors which should be employed and which are not found in the traditional business setting. These include unique economic processes, proper regulatory requirements and the perfect quality indicators. This creates a need for every leader within the healthcare industry to create or develop unique skill sets that will harmonize both organizational leadership and the inter-professional team development. It is, therefore, important to understand the comprehensive approach to the management of patient care and also how the concepts of team development and organizational leadership support healthcare leaders in creation of a patient-centric