«Southeast Medical Center Case Study» - Free Essay Paper

Introduction

Management of health systems can be challenging if not executed well. The challenges that the top management of health systems face are varied, some of which are caused by internal or external pressures. Prioritizing how to handle the challenges can be a key ingredient in ensuring that the health center or health care system remains in operation amid difficulties (Hernandez, 2009). The current paper is an evaluation of the three most important recommendations that have been suggested to make Southeast Medical Center a more profitable health care center again after a flopped privatization process.

The first recommendation which has a high priority for revamping Southeast Medical Center is that the health care systems at the center need to have dedicated mission statements and a set of behavioral norms that define their role in the community and the country. It should be noted that there are different health care systems that form up the larger Southeast Medical Center. They include training, research, and teaching. However, they came after the institution was established as a health care center with a mandate to serve the poor in the community. The new arms should have their own mission statements that define what business they are in. The different systems should have a distinct culture although with no distinct autonomy from each other. By trying to handle all these tasks under one mission, and one culture, the medical center’s CEO will still find it difficult to coordinate unrelated issues since it will not be easy to bring them together (Hernandez, 2009).

As an institution established primarily to serve poor people, it is important to highlight this primary purpose even when initiating new projects within the institution. Thus, introduction of research and training services ought to have been implemented under their own culture and mission. The clients and sponsors of an institution identify it as per the culture that they have formed. If the cultural practices and social responsibility are changed abruptly, it causes a disruption in the working and flow of finances in the health care system or any other health care institution. Thus, it is important for the body of directors and corporate governance to cultivate a culture that supports the mission statement as well as the hosting community. To lose the support of the community members, who are the majority of the clients, could signify a dearth of the institution since it will be deprived of any source of income, even though it may be a non-profit organization (Wolper, 2010).

The second most important recommendation for Southeast Medical Center is to allow various systems under it to develop information systems that support the integration of managerial and clinical information. It is clear that the medical center has a breakdown in its information system where there is disconnect between the management, sponsors, and the staff of the institution. An example is even the opinion of the staff on whether the institution should be privatized or not. While the majority of the respondents voted for privatization of the institution, it became evident that they did not have the information on why the institution should be privatized in the first place. Effective information systems in health care institution or any other organizations help the management and the staff to access and pass information to all the persons that are involved in the running of the institution (Wager, Lee & Glaser, 2013). A well established information system will ensure that everyone in the institution takes part in the decision making. It also enables individuals to offer their honest views on some actions that the management is taking.

As an information intensive institution, health care centers have an overarching duty to ensure that everybody who is associated with the institution has sufficient and correct information on what is happening in the institution. The public also should be informed since wrong information will have negative influence on the progress of institution. The Southeast Medical Center, for example, was not capable of controlling the way in which the information was flowing to the public through the media, forcing the press to come over and demand records. It already does some damage to the institution in terms of its public image (Wager, Lee & Glaser, 2013).

More important is the ability to provide stakeholders including the students who come to the institution for training, the patients, the staff, and the sponsors with effective information on their coordination and running of the institution. Corporate management should also verify the correctness of the information so that only truthful information is given out to people. Proper information systems will also ensure that the services offered at the institution are not only affordable but also supported from the supporters’ perspective. There is a need to enlist other people’s support, especially those who use the institution’s services. In this way, such supporters and sponsors will be able to stand with the institution during its difficult moments (Wolper, 2010).

Many organizations have failed to return the profit simply because the staff is not motivated or given incentives to support institution’s mission. Employees are the key to success of any organization. Without their support and commitment, no organization can succeed even where strategies are put in place (Roberts, 2005). Implementation of well thought strategies is invested in the goodwill and commitment of the staff. In the Southeast Medical Center the employees were not motivated, and they did not have incentives to make the strategies put in place to work. A properly motivated staff will ensure that the strategy plan that the management is trying to receive has their support.