Case study
The Elwood Clinic is a 25-person internal medicine and a primary care group in a rural mid-western community. There are two hospitals in town, St. Swithing’s and Memorial Medical Center. Historically, most of the doctors in town have worked at both hospitals. However, Memorial’s new administrator, Wayne Smiley, is far more aggressive than his predecessor. He convinces Dr. Elwood, Elwood Clinic’s medical director, that both Memorial and the Clinic would be stronger with a closer working relationship. Dr. Elwood has long felt a new location might help keep his group together once he retires. The group’s location is old, parking is inadequate, the doctors are crowded with enough examining rooms, and the building has been remodeled several times, which has only added to its inefficiency.
The hospital administrator has offered Dr. Elwood a site for the clinic on his 52-acre campus. From the administrator’s standpoint, this is a no-lose opportunity. Not only will Memorial get 100 percent of the business of the largest internal medicine and primary care group in town, it also will get t lease income from previously unused grounds. From Dr. Elwood’s’ standpoint, the project will not only keep the group together but allow it to grow. They tentatively agree on the plan, and both go back to inform their management.
Dr. Elwood reports to his people that the hospital is so eager to get the clinic on campus that Memorial will virtually guarantee their future viability by building them a new building.
Fred Bright, Elwood’s Clinic’s administrator, and other members of the management team at the clinic see a lot of merit in the plan but also some potential pitfalls. Team members realize they have not updated their business plan since a third partner came on board 17 years ago. They have several unanswered questions.
1. What are at least 5 questions the new facility committee at Elwood clinic should address before reaching a final decision?
2. Explain the importance of why these questions are relevant for the strategic development of this project. (add next to each question formulated)
All answers should include citations from articles included in this course.
Case Study 2:
A group practice administrator with many years of experience is used to a seat-of-the-pants approach to running the practice, In the past, with a rapidly growing health care marketplace and relatively few competitors, she was able to succeed admirably with this approach. After attending a continuing education session on the future of health care sponsored by the Medical Group Management Ass., however, the administrator realized that her management style must change to face future realities. In the past, hard work and an ad hoc approach were adequate for dealing with events as they happened; in the future, it will be necessary to anticipate events.
Healthcare transformation is accelerating to the point where hospitals provide care primarily to the most acute, critical are/trauma needs of the population. Healthcare delivery in ambulatory care position of importance as a priority for health care systems across the country
The practice and its board and physicians have followed the administrator’s seat-of-the-pants lead and taken things pretty much as they have occurred. They too are aware that health care is changing, but they are less aware than the administrator of what these changes are and how fast they are occurring. The administrator now recognizes that if the practice is to be successful in the future, it will have to be much more aggressive in many ways and especially in conducting top-notch strategic planning. The administrator also recognizes that many of the physicians in the practice, especially the senior ones, are set in their ways and will not jump on the bandwagon for a planning, marketing, and similar activities needed to embrace more treatment options in ambulatory care, even though there is really no alternative.
1. How should the administrator go about getting everyone in the practice interested in and involved in planning for more treatment options in the practice to meet the demands of this urgent care practice?
2. How can the administrator build for the future care needs with physicians and administrators whose thinking is based on a past that no longer exists?
All answers should include citations from previous articles from this course.
