Waitlist Scandal

For this discussion, I have chosen to explain how Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, La. promotes ethical behavior during everyday patient care. There are many key expectations required by Ochsner in order to promote ethical behavior. Ochsner Health System believes the most valuable asset is their employees and they understand that positive ethical behavior will reflect on patient care. Ochsner also takes time daily to recognize any work that is well done of employees. Ochsner offers an achieved leadership team that come from a range of backgrounds and is appreciated throughout the healthcare market and community. As an organization, Ochsner has always been committed to learning and advancing within the healthcare. Their leaders are encouraged

The New York Times article, “Wait Lists Grow as Many More Veterans Seek Care and Funding Falls Far Short” says the Department of Veterans Affairs agency has a new crisis they’re facing. The wait list of Veteran’s is more than 50% higher than it was last year, departments say. They are also facing nearly a $3 billion budget short, which could very well affect the care of our veterans.

The organizational structure of the American Red Cross needs to be taught that ethical compliance is its first priority; otherwise issues will continue to present themselves when the ARC is needed most. Mandatory, in-person, ethical classes should be held every year for employees and volunteers to help reinforce the ARC’s claim that they are fixing their internal issues. Also, executive leadership needs to be held accountable for their actions and not given monetary compensation upon their

A philosophy of an organization helps differentiate themselves from their competitors and set a foundation for future success. It also helps shape an organization by presenting the goals they want to accomplish with specific activities. To improve this, many organizations understand the important of sharing values and goals and realize employee recognition. This helps staff from moving forward toward success of the organizations. Chapter 4 introduces “Codes of Ethics in Health Services.” Code of ethics is a guideline for healthcare professionals to accomplish and serve as a member of a society. Similar to other professions, managers have their own code of ethics in maintaining their duties and responsibilities. They also use the codes for ethical decision-making in dealing with ethical issues. Chapter 5 deals with “Organizational Responses to Ethical Issues.” It provides assistance for managers and organizations in their decision making. It is manager’s duty to figure out the problem and resolve it (Darr, 2011,

The Veterans Affair has always claimed to take pride in their timeliness care. What they were not offering was the truth about how they were getting these numbers. They were changing the dates on paper work and falsely recording in the database. The patient’s charts were altered in order to lessen the effect of their conditions, along with performing useless procedures to make the time seem more favorable. Schedulers were pressured into using unofficial waitlist and other inaccurate paper work in justifying these wait times. It has been proven that the extended waiting periods have led to many deaths within the Veterans Affairs care system. An incident surrounding the wait was when “Thomas Breen, a 71-year-old U.S. Navy veteran, With a history of bladder cancer, Breen called his Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix for a follow-up appointment. He had to wait months to receive treatment. In the meantime, his family took him to a private hospital where he was diagnosed with bladder cancer”(Hankel,1). Thomas Breen had passed away before ever hearing back from his Veterans Affairs hospital. This story is important in understanding that the wait times for the Veterans Affair program are causing deaths in our Veteran population. This story allows one to understand how long the wait times could be for this care, but the question aroused from this is what is allowing the Veterans

Josh Hicks, author at The Washing Post, says that the Veterans Affairs has an ongoing problem of delays in servicing veterans. “Phoenix VA hospital kept delays off the books with secret wait lists that allegedly included dozens of patients who died while waiting for care” (Hicks 1). “Several patients died at an Atlanta clinic because of mismanagement” (Hicks 1). “A Department clinic in Fort Collins, Colorado, falsified appointment records to give the impression that staff doctors saw patients within the agency’s goal of 14 days” (Hicks 1). In addition to these issues, other veterans waiting to hear if their disability claims had been approved for care were waiting in excess of 125 days without determination. Retired four-star Army General Eric Shinseki, serving

Healthcare organizations have a moral and social responsibility to ensure that their communications are conducted using an outlined code of ethics. Whether the communication is an internal message to employees or mission outreach in the community, it must reflect the values and beliefs of the organization. Therefore, in order to establish and maintain the standard of ethical behavior and social responsibility, our organization requires all employees to complete new employee orientation sessions that define the policies and expectations. This orientation introduces our mission and values and it develops the foundation for our success as an organization. Our focus on encouraging and communicating ethical practices helps to reinforce our values to employees and the community. Furthermore, there should be a process in place that monitors and enforces the policies to safeguard against potential errors that would reflect poorly on the organization’s mission.

Ethics must begin at the top of the organization. It is a leadership issue and the Chief Executive Officer must set the example. The organization is a group of people that are essential to meet a goal. This would be my group the Vietnam Veteran Readjustment Organization. The purpose of this group would be to assist the Vietnam Veteran in adjusting to none military life. The members of the group will be the veteran and their family members.

The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), has a strong impact on ethical decision making because they focus on the “entire being” of the healthcare professional. For example, in ACHE’s preamble of The Code of Ethics it states, “In fulfilling their commitments and obligations to patients or others served, healthcare executives function as moral advocates and models.” Imagine, when a healthcare administrator recites these few words, he cannot help but acknowledge the depth of his commitment and the high level of morality that is expected from him. Because of the vast number of complex ethical dilemmas that arise, ACHE further promotes the value and importance of strong ethical decision making in ACHE’s Ethics Toolkit. “When the ethical guidelines are not enough, when there is uncertainty about the proper ethical approach, and when there is a need to develop additional

• Business Ethics: We knew this problem since October, but tried to hide it with the hope that it will fade away. We will be scrutinized from an ethical perspective.

Any member within the healthcare environment may be conflicted with some ethical decisions that have to be made. Ethics committees have been developed, and are required due to the number of ethical issues that present daily within hospitals and other health institutions. These committees are comprised of persons who assist patients, their families, and healthcare personnel in identifying, understanding, and quickly resolving ethical issues. Policies, procedures, and ethic codes are formulated around moral principles of beneficence, autonomy, non-maleficence, and justice.

Ethical behavior is virtuous and beneficial for business in any type of organization. In healthcare, the outcomes are improved patient care, dedicated staff and healthcare providers, and amplified market share. It obliges leaders, managers, directors, and supervisors to have a comprehensive interpretation of the role of ethical decision making (Winkler, 2005). Ethical health care organizations have incorporated and combined ethical practices and values, continuing education on ethics for everyone involved, successful ethics substructure, and morally spirited and dauntless leaders (Winkler, 2005). These organizations have a vision and statements that directs behavior and decision making.

Last, the ethics strategies should contribute a means for monitoring and policing organizational activates to downsize the proportion of legal and ethical violations. .Whenever, ethical programs are not enforced; many board members are held accountable for ethical lapses (HMUKASEY) .

With no ethics come dishonesty, disloyalty, fraudulence, and a host of other bad qualities. These qualities are total opposite of what one would need to possess if they were handling any form of business in the healthcare field, particularly in the finance department. When working with funds it is important to keep morals and ethics extremely high because when no one is looking is really when you’re being tested. Sometimes, humans tend to let financial issues burden them down to the point of giving up. If a person going through a tough time in life was to have access to a large amount of money, it would be imperative that this individual

(Panza & Potthast, n.d.) Ethics is very important to a company’s success. Ethical behavior can bring benefits to a business. They can attract customers, which can lead to a boost in sales and profits. It can attract the right employees and increase productivity. It can also attract investors and keep the company’s share price high. Unethical behavior on the other hand can damage a company’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. It could also result in lower profits.