HealthCare Organization and Administrations

Answer

HealthCare Organization and Administrations

The organization of choice for this environmental analysis paper is the Barnes-Jewish Hospital. It is the largest healthcare organization in the state of Missouri in the United States (Barnes-Jewish Hospital 2019). The hospital has consistently been ranked among the top hospitals in the USA. For instance, in the 2018/2019 evaluation, it was ranked as 11^th best in organization in the country. Barnes-Jewish Hospital is the largest private employer in St. Louis where it employs 9.703 people (Barnes-Jewish Hospital 2019). This basic knowledge informs the SWOT analysis for Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

SWOT analysis for Barnes-Jewish Hospital

Strengths

The hospital is reputable. It has been ranked among the best healthcare organizations in the USA for the past 18 years. In addition, it attracts and hire experienced and competent doctors, and nurses. This is evident in its ranking as the best organization for specialty treatment nationally. Its key merits include cancer treatment, digestive disorders, gynaecology, lung and heart surgery, orthopaedics, urology, kidney diseases, hormonal disorders and neurosurgery among others (Barnes-Jewish Hospital 2019). Third, the hospital uses state of the art technologies and medical equipment which reduces chances of medical errors while enhancing efficiency of work.

Weaknesses

The hospital is currently overstrained by the many number of patients. This creates weakness such as limited service lines. For instance, the hospital has only 1,167 beds for inpatient admission. Sometimes this capacity is overstretched beyond capacity. This leads to poor services due to mismatch in resource allocation in form of high patient-doctor/ nurse ratio.

Opportunities

The hospital could invest in research and development (R&D) of specialized technologies to address emerging customer needs (van Wijngaarden, Scholten & van Wijk 2012). Second, the hospital has the chance of expanding its services beyond St. Louis. For instance, it could introduce new branches in other states and areas around the USA and Canada.

Threats

Intensive competition from the other healthcare organizations. The medical industry is rapidly growing and thus, it attracts many new entrants offering niche medical services such as orthopaedic care (Helms, Moore & Ahmadi 2018). They pose a threat to the incumbents. Second, political factors especially the current debate on either repealing or improving Obamacare health insurance.

One Opportunity and Connection to Mission and Vision

The selected opportunity is that of R&D of specialized medical technologies. This opportunity seconds the vision and mission of Barnes-Jewish Hospital. It has the mission of improving healthcare services for the communities and people it serves (Barnes-Jewish Hospital 2019). It seeks to achieve this by providing compassionate, exceptional and safe care. The organizations vision is to be a provider of choice by partnering with communities, patients and families to achieve the best health outcome possible.

Benefits and Risks of R&D of Barnes-Jewish Hospital

Investing in research and development could help come up with cost-efficient procedures that will not only enhance service delivery but also save costs. The second benefit is the possibility of coming up with patented services that will differentiate healthcare services thus acting as a competitive advantage. On the contrary, it poses risks such as high initial capital outlay for the research and development initiatives (Helms et al 2018). Second, the high risk of failure of the new processes due to ineffective research.

Impact of R&D on Market Share

Assuming that Barnes-Jewish comes up with differentiated services that help in providing specialised medical care, then it will differentiate its services (Helms et al 2018). This will attract more customers needing specialized treatment and care thus increasing the organization’s market share.

Impact of R&D on Financial Health of Barnes-Jewish Hospital

Research and development initiatives are capital intensive. This means this opportunity will create a financial burden for the organization. This creates a negative financial health for the hospital. However, assuming the outcomes of the research and development processes are positive, the organization will charge a premium price for the services thus making huge profit margins that offset the high costs.