Seattle Children’s Research Hospital Foundation
Title
This blog will be a review of a healthcare organization’s strategic plan. Areas of
consideration will be the mission and its purpose, the facilities vision and
the outcomes of that vision, what is the 2-5 years projected future state of
the organization, highlight the benchmarks/milestones of the plan, and finally,
the timeline, leadership and management actions required to fully support these
endeavors.
Healthcare
institutions should consider the organization’s planning assumptions, core
values, demographics and strategic directions. Additional consideration must be
given to how people really feel about their strategic plan; if they do not like
it, why; in other words a buy-in from the employees and allow their input,
because staff may have insight that was overlooked by executives who crafted
the strategic plan.
The Mission (Purpose)
“If you don't know where you're going, it doesn't matter which way you go.”
This statement is true and epitomizes the
antithesis of a mission statement. The embodiment of a mission statement should
typically be of one to three sentences that are clear, concise statements that say
who the institution is; such as the name, that it is or is not a nonprofit, and
what type of business it is. It should also reveal what it does, for whom and
where it does it (Bennet, Prathibba, 2005.
Some would also
suggest that the vision and future of the agency should be indicated, but not absolutely
true, those can be addressed in other areas of the strategic plan. The mission
statement can be looked at as somewhat of a PR statement if you will, that it is
relatively simple, easy to remember and repeat, that board members, staff and volunteers
can effectively use to focus their efforts and to speak to on behalf of the
organization.
The strategic
plan being examined is from Seattle’s Children Hospital Research Foundation.
Its mission statement is as follows “We believe all children have unique needs and should grow up without
illness or injury. With the support of the community and through our spirit of
inquiry we will prevent, treat and eliminate pediatric disease (Hansen, 2015).”
Let’s examine this statement in terms of direction for the organization and how
well its core values are represented in the statement.
The statement is utopic and not
fully attainable or realistic; there is no way to prevent or eliminate sickness
and disease absolutely (Hansen, 2015), at best we can minimize its occurrence
and effectually treat it once detected. However the core value of care for the
health and welfare of pediatric healthcare is well illustrated in their mission
statement. It further does infer complicity with the community and its spirit of
inquiry, to help attain this goal; therefore mostly fulfilling the definition
of a mission statement.
The Vision (Outcomes)
The
Seattle Children Research Hospital’s vision statement states “Our founding
promise is to care for every child in our region, regardless of their family’s
ability to pay (Hansen, 2015).” They further provide the following initiatives
they will be pursuing:
-
Provide
the safest, most effective care possible.
-
Control
and reduce the cost of providing care.
-
Find
cures and educate clinicians and researchers.
-
Grow
responsibility and provide access to every child who needs us.
(Hansen,
2015)
Definitively,
following the intension of a vision statement, this one is almost prototypical
in its design. From the statement you can tell that the company is a health
care facility, and that there has been a lot of thought placed in the
development of their vision statement. As it should, it gives specific
vision(s) that the organization has trajectored it efforts. The statement did
not simply state that it wanted to be the best; it provided a list of ways it
wanted to excel.
This
is a quality vision statement because it outlined the specific future they
intend to create for themselves as well as their customers. It also clarified
globally what it was going to provide or perform in order to obtain its desired
objective. It did not bog the vision down with specifics that should be left to
the mission statement, but instead gave a clear description of agenda items it
intended to pursue and accomplish (Harvey, 2012).
The Future State (in 2-5
Years)
This element of the strategic plan is covered in
the vision statement. It states that in the next five years the Seattle
research foundation plan to achieve the four initiatives mentioned in the
vision statement. Also the article mentions that the Hospital seek be the best
children’s hospital not only over the next five years but well into the future
(Hansen, 2015). Beyond that, there is no
other clear aspiration for projected medical prosperity initiatives.
In terms of brevity, this section of the plan is
consistent with other areas, brief; they give you a small snippet of
information, but not quite enough to fully illuminate the intention in full
description.
Benchmarks or Milestones
of the Plan
Seattle Children’s Research Hospital Foundation
has used as a benchmark, perfection by way of prevention, and treatment. It is
stated in the mission statement that children should grow up without illness or
injury, and that further they will prevent, treat and eliminate pediatric
disease (Hansen, 2015). While morally
admirable, it is not based in reality, the bar has been set in-perfectly at its
highest point possible.
As for milestone, the research facility is its
own milestone, as stated in the Letter from the CEO and Chairman, the strategic
plan points the facility to the future, but it has been shaped by a vision that
has driven the hospital for the last 100 years. It further goes on to say that
the foundation was ahead of its time when founded in 1907, as the first
hospital west of the Mississippi to specialize in treating children. After 100
years, the research facility remains one of the leaders in child research and
treatment (Hansen, 2015).
Leadership and
Management Actions Required to Support the Proposed Solutions
The timeline for leadership and management to
act on proposals is and have been an ongoing proposition. It does not appear
that the course of perfection pursued by this hospital has been altered over
the more than hundred years of existence of this foundation. There is a five
year plan in place, but this is only an enhancement of the previous plan that
have spanned the last hundred years.
The action leadership and management will have
to enact is continuous quality improvement measures that keeps up with the
changing times (Harvey, 2012). If their
assertions are to be true, then they have made sure to remain abreast of the
latest and best of health care quality initiatives as it applies to pediatric
health (Harvey, 2012). A continuance of systematic program upgrades and
improvements is what has maintained this facility over the last hundred years
and is what is required to see it through the next hundred years (Harvey, 2012).
Quality initiative also means the inclusion of
technology as a must; the embracement of all the technological advantages in
computer and robotic health technology, likewise, medical simulation,
electronic health information sharing, enrollment and post treatment follow-up
technology will also be required (Harvey, 2012). But perhaps a vital portion of
this leg of advancement is information sharing, to the customer and not to be
forgotten to the fellow health professionals. That way, there is health
treatment consistency (Harvey, 2012).
Conclusion
A good strategic health care
plan is one that the decisions, plans, and actions of a medical organization
are undertaken to achieve specific corporate goals and milestone targeted by
the executive staff (Bennet, Prathibba, 2005). An effective and explicit strategic plan can
help to define the facilities vision for the future, it outlines and frame
priorities and the expectation of roles of the different groups in the
hospital, it builds consensus, affirm understanding and direction, and it
informs staff. Health strategic implementation can be complex, but effectively
can help show the plan from infancy to maturity, and the pathways taken to obtain
structured outcomes (Bennet, Prathibba, 2005). Strategic plans should be in concert with state
and federal laws that govern the activities of health care institutions. There
is no one way to produce or type of strategic plan. A good strategic plan is
one that work effectively for the organization within reason (Bennet, Prathibba, 2005).
References
Bennet, K., Prathibba, V. (2005), Practical
Techniques for Strategic Planning in Health
Care Organizations, American College of Healthcare Executives,
2 (7), pg. 11-15
Hansen, T. (2015). Shaping
the Future of Pediatric Healthcare, Seattle
Children’s
Research
Hospital Foundation, pg. 1-3
Harvey, S. (2012). Health Care Provider Initiative Strategic Plan,
National
Environmental Education & Training Foundation, 17, pg. 7-10
