Running head: HEALTHCARE

Middleville Regional Health Care Analysis

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HEALTHCARE

QUESTION 1
Overall Review of the Role of Governing Board of an Organization
As the governing body of an organization, a board of directors offers oversight to
guarantee that the organization achieves its duty and ensures that the organization functions
efficiently and in the best interests of the shareholders. These shareholders include consumers,
affiliates, investors, workforces, and the society at large. The board has a general duty of tactical
planning, organizational operations, financial management, human resources and community
affairs. As an oversight body, the board of directors is also involved in HR management and
operations. In most recognized establishments, the board is charged with the responsibility of
hiring and conducting performance evaluation of an executive director. The executive managers
duty is to deal with all matters pertaining human resource management. A body with decent
governance observance clearly shows command and responsibilities of the board, executive
leader and line managers.
When defining the role of the board of directors in regard to human resources, it is
essential to point out the difference between management and governance. The governance board
is thus influential in the performance of organization (Alexanda & Lee, 2006).
Information technology is a key driver of tactical revolutions as well as organizational
performance. It offers a linkage to the clients. The information about the client, conducts,
knowledge, and product customs are tactical assets and inputs to strategic guidelines that have
long feat insinuations. Information technology seconds leadership in having positive influence on
the enterprise. Hence, the discussions on IT in the boardroom needs to be forward looking and
premeditated in line with the objective and expectations. Lack of board oversight for IT activities
is risky; it places the firm at risk in the same way that failure to review its books would.

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Choosing the best IT method relies on a number of factors which include the establishments
history, competitive situation, industry financial position and superiority of IT management.
The financial sustainability of the hospital and the worth of care are the two crucial
responsibilities of the board of trustees. Health care improvement will benefit the hospital
community. The final duty for their effective execution and financial health of the body remains
with the board of trustees. Most of the hospices income comes from the state, federal, and
private insurance schemes. Health care modification will lead to noteworthy changes in
reimbursement and more stress on home care, primary care and other types of non-acute care.
The variations in reimbursement will lead to substantial changes in administrative operations and
structure. It is important for board members to be always updated in all areas of health care
finance in order to efficiently implement the financial objective of the hospital. The panel must
ensure that the budget is in line with the financial goals and exert control on the financial
performance of the hospital. It is important for the chief nursing officer (CNO) to support the
boards indulgent on the matters regarding the financial health of the organization. The chief
nursing officers is thus influential in the organization and should also play a major role in
leadership (Ellaine &Susan, 2006).
Alliance in the healthcare industry is a style dating back several decades ago. The key
drivers for alliance include the need to access capital, financial strength and the scale to control
operating competences as a means of marketing. The implementation of the Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and related market forces has created the need for providers
to unite and use measure to reduce expenses. An alliance policy is fundamental as a governing
bodys fiduciary obligation to preserve the establishments long-term feasibility to sustain its
charge.

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QUESTION 2
Performances Middleville can use to Measure its Success
Health-care suppliers share a common objective; to offer high quality care to their
patients. Assessing performance can enable management to comprehend how well the business is
realizing this objective. It permits for a scrutiny of the areas where changes need to be made in
order to increase performance and the level of care delivered. Performance evaluation also helps
providers to identify what is working well for the hospital and material that can be shared with
other providers who can learn from their achievement. The emphasis of performance assessment
is not only on the distinct provider but also on the body as a whole in order to assess whether a
satisfactory system and accurate procedures are in place to realize the organizational objectives.
Performance assessment can thus be used to assess the quality of governance in a hospital setting
(Groene, Skau & Frolich, 2008). The performance indicators include:
1. OP Visits Figures
Middleville health care system record of 221000 OP visits, compared to its competitors
of 175000 and 40000 for Brierfield and Greystone respectively, can be used as a performance
indicator for Middleville in determining the reasons behind such a big OP patients turnover over
their competitive firms in the industry. It could be attributed to their large bed capacity as well as
other resources not captured in the statistics represented.
2. Expenses Variations
Among the three health care providers, Brierfield leads in expenses incurred at $ 130000,
followed by Middleville which incurred a cost of $ 125000 and finally Greystone recording an
expense of $ 80000. Literally, its expected that Middleville having a high patients base of
350000 to service and a higher personnel of 2000 than the other two health providers should

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incur a higher cost than Brierfield. This is an indication of cost effectiveness by the management
of Middleville over its competitor. Both quality and cost is primer in their undertaking as
portrayed by high patient base and low expenses statistics provided.
3. Births statistics
Providers of health as earlier indicated, have an objective of providing high quality health
care services to their clients. Births are an important component of health care services, therefore
can form the basis of performance evaluation of health care providers. From the statistics
provided, Middleville leads in the number of births recorded of 2300 births. This figure could be
a base for justifying that Middleville attains its objective of providing health care services better
than the other players in the industry. Even with higher admissions of 17000, Brierfield still
records lower births (1200 births) compared with Middleville (13000 admissions with 2300
births).
QUESTION 3
Areas Middleville Need to Focus to Maintain Its Competitive Market Share
First, there is need to increase patients admission for Middleville. Its unrealistic that
Brierfield with a bed capacity of 380 is able to admit more patients (17000) than Middleville.
This portrays underutilization of Middleville capacity. Increase in admission will definitely lead
to more OP visits and births. This being their primary objective in the industry, will give them a
competitive edge.
Another concern that Middleville should focus on is maintaining a competitive market
share. Proper strategies should be put in place to reduce its expenses. It is uneconomical for
Middleville with a lower admission rate than Brierfield to incur expenses closer to Brierfield.
The expense margin between Middleville and Brierfield is $5000 with an admission difference of

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4000 yet, the expenses difference between Middleville and Greystone is $45000 with an
admission difference of 3000. This is a clear indication that Middleville expenditure needs a
review in order regain a competitive edge. Every organization whether profit making or
nonprofit making aims at minimizing cost while increasing its welfare. Thus at all costs must be
kept under close check for a business to remain relevant and thus I recommend Middleville to
review its expenditures.
QUESTION 4
Implementation of Electronic Medical Records
Electronic medical records (EMRs), as a foundation of a more adaptive, intelligent, and
effective health care system, have the prospective to advance the health of our society and reduce
the trillions of dollars consumed on health care each year. Nevertheless, use of such record
systems conveys its own noteworthy costs and challenges which must be sensibly considered in
order to completely recognize the possible paybacks. Some of the preliminary merits of using
EMR include fewer medical errors, improved patient care synchronization and disease
controlling, improved output, and reduced expenses.
The long-term goals comprise of: more effective preventive health policies; more targeted
public health ingenuities; predictive, personalized medicine; substantial decreases in national
health outflows as there is more regulation of the most efficient treatment alternatives for the
lowermost cost; and eventually a better society. None of these welfares can be realized without
the federal government, providers, and patients sustaining weighty upfront charges for both
execution and information security. The major cost includes costs associated with
implementation of software and hardware and workforce-related budgets. While the costs for
many providers transitioning to an EMR scheme have been mostly counterbalance by the federal

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induced payments, suppliers have not yet taken the matter into consideration. Besides the costs to
the federal regime and the suppliers to execute these fresh electronic schemes, enlarged security
privacy and threats disquiets are adding even larger charges.
QUESTION 5
Employee Satisfaction and Retention
Refining employee job satisfaction comes along with extra benefits such as a direct effect
upsurge in employees work performance and customers satisfaction. Content employees tend to
add further determination to job performance and thus work better. Hence, the organizational
success entirely relies on human abilities as extremely fulfilled workforce is totally vital for an
organization (McGovern & Shelly, 2008).
One form of motivation to the employees is involvement and support. This includes
giving the employees the information they require to undertake their tasks, including personnel
in resolutions (especially those that affect them) and incorporating employees ideas and
opinions.
Another important motivator is giving workforce authority and autonomy such as
permitting them to choose how best to do their work and incorporating their ideas (McGovern &
Shelly, 2008). The employees should also be compensated in case of long working hours and the
top management should exhibit undivided courtesy. This form of credit improves the work
relationships between the executives and the other employees. This gives the employees
confidence in their top management (McGovern & Shelly, 2008).

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References
Alexander,J.A & Lee,S.D.(2006). Does Governance Matter? Board Configuration and
Performance in Not-for-profit Hospitals. The Milbank Quarterly; A Multidisciplinary
Journal of Population Health and Policy, 84 (4), 733-758. http: doi/10.1111/j.14680009.2006.00466.x/full
Elaine, M & Susan, K.M. (2006). Nurse Managers as Transformational and Transactional
Leaders. The Journal of Health Care Leaders, 24(4). Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/openview/782ad69371abe276b1a972419f8b6778/1?pqorigsite=gscholar
Groene, O., Skau, J.K., & Frolich. (2008) An International Review of Projects on Hospital
Performance Assessment. International Journal for Quality in Health Care.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzn008
McGovern, J. & Shelly, S. (2008). The happy employee. Avon, Mass.: Adams Business.
Workplace Fairness Editors. (n.d). Disability Discrimination. Workplace Fairness. Retrieved
from https://www.workplacefairness.org/disability-discrimination