Module 05 Project – Action Plan

Must go off the attached papers below. Must be in APA format 3 pages long, at least 2-3 insite citation and 3 references. 

Barbara schedules a meeting with a core group of clinic managers. The purpose of the meeting is to review the strategic plan and to gather additional feedback from the managers. Barbara is aware of the importance of diversity within the organization. Diversity and inclusion is particularly important because of the population served by UCCO facilities. However, she realizes during the meeting that there may be some issues with diversity and culture. Furthermore, how diversity and culture impact team performance. Several managers made comments regarding distribution of work and employee perspectives based on stereotypes. She also found out that there are many personality conflicts and issues with subordination. Barbara encountered the conflict and degradation comments, first-hand during the meeting.  For this project assignment on UCCO complete a minimum of a 3 page report to address management of change with strategic planning and with the following concepts: 

•What is the role of executives in the process of change management and strategic planning? How do issues with diversity and culture relate to change management? 

•Why is diversity inclusion important? What are the benefits? Specifically address UCCO purpose for diversity.  

•Discuss how working with others can help with respect for diversity and respect for diverse perspectives. 

•What are the challenges and benefits of employing a diverse workforce?

•What should Barbara’s plan be for encouraging teamwork among a diverse workforce and ensuring that employees make meaningful and valuable contributions to team projects and tasks. Incorporate Barbara’s personal experience with the team of clinic managers.

Discuss the role of executives in the process of change management and strategic planning, as well as issues with diversity and culture related to change management; with examples and supportive references.

Discuss plan for encouraging teamwork among a diverse workforce and ensuring that employees make meaningful and valuable contributions to team projects and tasks. Incorporated Barbara’s personal experience with the team of clinic managers and provided examples and supportive references.

Running head: ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
2

Module 04 Project – Ethical Considerations

Krista Kim

Rasmussen College

Author Note

This paper is being submitted on January 28th, 2018, for Kim Sanders’s H490/HSA4922 Section 01 Healthcare Management Capstone – Online Plus – 2018 Winter Quarter

Was the nursing manager legally compliant with to protect patient information? Explain the legal risks and support with federal legislations and professional expectations, such as HIPAA and professional codes of ethics

It is essential for medical practitioners to protect the patient information despite their age or religion. The nurse manager verbally warned the nurses and staff involved in the case verbally. I think that the nurse manager legally complied with protecting patient information. However, I think that the burse could have applied a different approach to the nurses. The nurse posted the issue on her social media page using a clinic-owned computer which is a breach of confidentiality. There are certain consequences of the breach of patient confidentiality which include mistrust, lawsuit and disciplinary action. Information of patients should not be publicized and if such happens, legal action should be considered. It is also noted that the staff productivity is affected by the use of personal cell phones and clinical equipment is often used for social media. The same case applies to the nurse who posted a comment about the patient on her social media page using a clinical-owned computer. Therefore, the nurse manager could not only give the nurses and the staff verbal warning but could also take more actions on them so as to reduce and eradicate such cases from happening again.

Legally, nurses are bound to protect patient health information. This is also demonstrated by the HIPAA law which protects and keeps confidential personal information of patients. In addition, they also set limits and conditions on the use of patient’s information and disclosure without patient authorization. Health practitioners who breach confidentiality risk for lawsuit damages and criminal charges. As stated by HIPAA law, when a law stated by the HIPAA is violated, a fine of $100 to $1.5 million is applied. In addition to that, the health practitioner risk for sanctions or loss of license (Scott, 2000). It is a HIPAA violation for nurses to gossip about patients to friends and workers and hence it can cost a practice a significant fine. Therefore, it is advisable for employees to avoid sharing any patient information with anyone. In addition to that, it is a violation to post any patient’s information on social media. This is a breach of patient’s privacy and may lead to legal consequences such as fine (Scott, 2000).

What bearing does the age and religious requests have on the patient’s case? Are there medical and ethical laws that supersede the parent’s requests? 

Patient being 13 years old, the parents made it clear to the staff that they are not willing to give consent to any procedure involving blood products or transfusion. However, when the patient gains consciousness, the patient tells the nurse that any care should apply to her since she is afraid of dying. Patients should be treated with respect and understanding. It is an ethical dilemma when patients reject blood transfusion even unto death whereas it is the duty of the medical practitioner to provide optimal treatment. As much as parents in certain religions prevent their children from having a blood transfusion, children have a right to decide on what should be done in critical conditions in most cases in emergency situations (Carroll, 2018). 

It is believed that any decision taken by parents or guardians is targeted in safeguarding the best interest of the child’s welfare. However, it’s a health practitioner’s legal and ethical obligation rests with the child patient and not the wishes of the parents. Children under the age of 16 years can legally give consent on the issues that they understand (Carroll, 2018). 

What is the role and importance of communication among UCCO facilities, particularly in reference to compliance and ethical standards? 

Communication is the building block of successful organizations. It is important to note that communication promotes motivation, it is a source of information, it helps in socializing, it helps in altering individuals’ attitudes, it helps in controlling processes, and creating a workforce that is able to communicate effectively. Communication will help health practitioners in ensuring that they adhere to the set standards. The nurses can be able to communicate on what is needed from them and hence act as what is stipulated (Tompkins, 2015). 

What are the ethical and professional factors of using social media? 

Social media has a negative effect on many health organizations since some health practitioners may breach confidentiality. Health organizations use of social media may affect the security of patient information, and patient consent among others. Therefore, many healthcare professionals have come up with guidelines for use of social media. The guidelines may include. Disciplinary actions for the inappropriate use of social media, policies on the use of organizational email addresses and graphics, and employee access to the internet and/or to social networking site among others (Chretien, & Kind, 2013). In most cases, healthcare organizations have policies that forbid the use of work email addresses on social media and separating personal and professional activities. Healthcare organizations also sign HIPAA authorization before any information on patients is posted on social media. The American Medical Association (AMA) provided guidelines for the ethical use of social media by health practitioners in 2010 (Chretien, & Kind, 2013). They include maintaining patient confidentiality and provision of accurate and truthful information. It also provided privacy settings that may fail to provide complete protection and anything that the practitioner’s post may be permanently on the social media.

Were the reactions to the patient’s case illegal, or just unethical? How does this align with UCCO’s mission, values, and strategic action plans? How does it compare to your own personal beliefs and values?

It was not ethical for reactions of the staff and nurse to the patient’s case. It is not illegal to share patient’s information with the fellow staff in some circumstances however the way things were done was unethical. Their mission is to provide quality healthcare to patients, it was important for the nurse to do their work without exposing the issue to the public since it proves that there is no confidentiality. Such cases have resulted in a decreased quality of patient care. I believe that it is the responsibility of the top management to ensure that employees adhere to the set rules and policies and work towards achieving the goals and objectives of the company. Therefore, the management of the organization such as the nursing manager should ensure that they work towards what is set. For example, the nursing manager could use other measures other than verbal warning so as to eradicate such issues from happening.

References

Carroll, A. (2018). Business & society : ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Chretien, K. C., & Kind, T. (2013). Social Media and Clinical Care. Circulation, 127(13), 1413-1421.

Koenig, H. G., King, D., & Carson, V. B. (2012). Handbook of religion and health. Oup Usa.

Scott, C. (2000). Is Too Much Privacy Bad for Your Health–An Introduction to the Law, Ethics, and HIPAA Rule on Medical Privacy. Ga. St. UL Rev., 17, 481.

Tompkins, P. (2015). Practicing communication ethics : development, discernment, and decision-making. London New York: Routledge.

Running head: ANALYSIS PAPER 1

ANALYSIS PAPER 2

Analysis Paper

Krista Kim

Rasmussen College

Author Note

This paper is being submitted on January 21st, 2018, for Kim Sanders’s H490/HSA4922 Section 01 Healthcare Management Capstone – Online Plus – 2018 Winter Quarter

Analysis Paper

Based on the results of the SWOT analysis, what should Barbara recommend as an overall strategy?

From the SWOT analysis, the overall strategy that Barbara should recommend is a system that is capable of meeting the needs of the healthcare facility effectively and efficiently. The strategy focuses on having systems that are fast to allow for easy processing of information and offer quality support to the patients. It should also have a high level of functionality to allow for the normalizing, analyzing, access and the storage of the entire patient’s data and saving it for easy retrieving in the future. The system should also be user-friendly so that the professionals and the staff using it can be in a position to easily maneuver in the process of care delivery. The other component of the system that the company should consider is that it should have a wide range of features to enhance maximum utilization and the ease of data access by the patients and physicians. Finally, the medical professionals should also be trained on how to use the system upon implementation.

How will the selection of the chosen EHR system contribute to the strategy? Further explain why it was the best choice.

One of the ways in which the selection of eClinical works EHR will contribute to strategy is that it is the ability to maintain highly organized data; it’s fast and also has amazing features. The EHR system adapted for use in the organization should be in a position to increase effectiveness, efficiency, achieve quality in the delivery of care and also enhance the patient’s outcomes (Sinha et al., 2013). Due to its organization, the system will make it easy for the health care professionals to retrieve the patients’ information while at the same time ensuring security to prevent access of the patient information by unauthorized persons. The e-Clinical works will also contribute to the strategy because it offers low and affordable prices and has low maintenance costs and this aids in the reduction of the costs that the healthcare facilities incur in the maintenance. The other way in which the system will contribute to the strategy is that it has a wide scope of features which make it easy for the patients and the physicians to login into their portals and interact with each other.

On what basis should she develop actions items? What should the action items be, as they directly relate to the strategy?

The action items should be developed based on their importance in meeting the organizational goals and objectives. The organization aims at implementing an Electronic Health System that will assist in the improvement of the level of effectiveness, efficiency in the delivery of care and also quality. The actions items that should be taken and directly relating to the strategy are; creation of an implementation team, configuration of the software, identification of the hardware needs, transfer of the data, optimization of the workflows in the pre-launch, consideration of the layout of the rooms, deciding of the approach that will be used in the launching of the system, development of the procedures to be followed when the EHR system is down and lastly initiating the training plan (Hodgkins, 2017).

What should the recommended outcomes and/ or long-term goals be, based on the action items?

One of the recommended outcomes based on the action items is that all the medical professionals and the patients should be trained on how to use the system effectively. The patient should be shown how they are supposed to login in the system so that they can post their wellness information and get a chance to interact with the medical providers online. The other recommendation is that the hospital should be adequately prepared to ways in which they will carry out normal activities in case the system goes down to avoid halting of services. Lastly, training should be a long-term activity to ensure that all people are acquitted with the skills needed for online interaction with the medical providers. All this will aid in the increasing of the efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of care.

References

Hodgkins, M. (2017). Electronic Health Record (EHR) Implementation. Step Forward. From:

https://www.stepsforward.org/modules/ehr-implementation

Sinha, P., Sunder, G., Bendale, P., Mantri, M. & Dande, A. (2013). Electronic health record : standards, coding systems, frameworks, and infrastructures. Piscataway, NJ Hoboken, New Jersey: IEEE Press John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Glenn, B. (2013). Top 10 most popular EHR systems for small practices. Medical Economics. From:

http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/medical-economics/EHR/HIT/10-most-popular-ehr-systems-small-practices?page=full

Hodgkins, M. (2017). Electronic Health Record (EHR) Implementation. Step Forward. From:
https://www.stepsforward.org/modules/ehr-implementation

Running Head: ANALYSIS PAPER

1

ANALYSIS PAPER

6

Analysis Paper

Krista Kim

Rasmussen College

Author Note

This paper is being submitted on January 14th, 2018, for Kim Sanders’s H490/HSA4922 Section 01 Healthcare Management Capstone – Online Plus – 2018 Winter Quarter

Analysis Paper

What is the current economic situation for UCCO? What suggestions can Barbara make to help mitigate financial issues? Use the financial review provided in the UCCO case.  

While the move to implementation of more Electronic Health System is necessary and also commendable since it would help to increase the level of efficiency, effectiveness, quality of care and also enhance the patient outcome, there are a lot of costs that are associated with its implementation. For example from the scenario, we are told that a situational analysis will be needed and therefore the organization will be required to invest a lot of resources in research to conduct a comprehensive review and also the purchase and maintenance also EHR systems also demand extra costs. The healthcare currently may not be in the economic position to meet what the UCCO want. This is because the whole process is expensive and the organization may not that much money in store to see this through from the beginning to the end.

To mitigate financial issues, there is a need for proper financial planning. Business planning, in this case, involves the identification and estimation of all costs that the healthcare is bound to suffer, budgeting and also seeking alternative sources of funding enable them to meet the various values. For example, they can find government funding.

Situational/SWOT Analysis

Table 1: Allscripts EHR

Internal and External Influences Strengths: Good electronic prescribing, one can run multiple ERA, offers versatility in features and good security and data protection. Weaknesses: It is slow, not intuitive and poor patient support. Opportunities: It can be made more automated. Threats: Competition from other systems which have proven more effective in some areas of disadvantage.

Trends that can impact clinic performance, market and financial position   The software allows for data to be taken from multiple sources and put together in one source and this ensures that patients are able to access their medical data from different treatment centres (Glenn, 2013). It offers different forms of pricing and financial options that allow healthcare centres to be able to choose according to their financial position. Currently this is the software that has grabbed the biggest market share.

EHR System functions and capabilities  Despite having a lot of capabilities in terms of normalizing, analysing, access and storage of data that system has poor functionality since it crashes easily and needs high maintenance.

EHR End-user requirements and ease of use The software is not very user friends

Table 2: eClinicalWorks EHR

Internal and External Influences Strengths: It does not mix data from different practices and hence making it highly organized, it is fast and has standout features. Weaknesses: Poor usability and lacks features such as charting. Opportunities: Increase ease to use Threats: High competition	Trends that can impact clinic performance, market and financial position   The service has made storage of the bulky medical records more secure and more accessible and also transferable. It also offers very low and affordable pricing with low set up and maintenance cost thus lowering the cost for health facilities.
EHR System functions and capabilities  This is a very effective system since it offers features that enhance optimum use and access of data by physicians and patients. For example Healow the patient portal patients can input their wellness data and interact with physicians easily (Glenn, 2013).	EHR End-user requirements and ease of use There are too many clicks needed when using it and thus not easy to use but easier compared to AllScripts.

What type of electronic record system should Barbara recommend for the company?

The EHR that she should be one that meets the optimum goal for EHR implementation that is making medical record keeping more efficient and also optimizing the use and access of data(Hodgkins, 2017).

What is her best option?

From the two choices analysed above, eClinicalWorks would be the best fit in fulfilling the general EHR objective.

What are the financial implications?

The cost of implementing this system as discussed in the analysis table is meagre starting from the start-up cost to the maintenance cost.

Explain the choice based on what the system can provide in comparison to the organizational challenges?

This system can be able to promote efficiency and patient outcome optimally. Other than secure storage of data and easy access of data, physicians can be able to track the medical condition of patients without physical visits, and patients can be able to arrange referrals and also request refills through the system. This helps to lower the cost of healthcare while improving quality. The organization is also able to save on value due to the low costing of the system.

References

Glenn, B. (2013). Top 10 most popular EHR systems for small practices. Medical Economics. From: http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/medical-economics/EHR/HIT/10-most-popular-ehr-systems-small-practices?page=full

Hodgkins, M. (2017). Electronic Health Record (EHR) Implementation. Step Forward. From: https://www.stepsforward.org/modules/ehr-implementation

Hodgkins, M. (2017). Electronic Health Record (EHR) Implementation. Step Forward. From:

https://www.stepsforward.org/modules/ehr-implementation

Sinha, P., Sunder, G., Bendale, P., Mantri, M. & Dande, A. (2013). Electronic health record : standards, coding systems, frameworks, and infrastructures. Piscataway, NJ Hoboken, New Jersey: IEEE Press John Wiley & Sons, Inc.