¶ … Adaptive Strategy The main adaptive strategy that was selected by this hospital was one of analysis: this was the preferred strategy for the hospital. The main rationale for its overall use was that the hospital was founded on a vision that was distinct from other hospitals: this was a vision of affordable cost, the benefit of natural healing, and the concurrence of specific goals. These goals were put in place so that the hospital can eventually expand services to other parts of the U.S. with a moderate growth rate, at first. The hospitals also proposed to achieve these goals through an analyzing strategy which would help in developing evidence-based healthcare practices throughout the medical facility. The hospital also seeks to establish a 99% recovery rate with all patients.

Thus, given the specific strategies and methods selected, there is no wonder why the specific analytical tool selected would be software analytics of electronic health records (EHR). For example, one of the leaders in this regard would be HIMSS analytics, a leader in the field of analyzing the usage and results of adopted EMRs. "HIMSS Analytics, the authoritative source on EMR Adoption trends, devised the EMR Adoption Model (EMRAM) to track EMR progress at hospitals and health systems. The EMRAM scores hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics Database on their progress in completing the 8 stages to creating a paperless patient record environment. Hospital executives that participate in HIMSS Analytics' Annual Study can access their EMRAM score and compare it to similar facilities (by bed size, patient days, etc.) as well as compare their score to their state's average score" (himssanalytics.org, 2013).

A clear example of such analytical software to determine sound documentation would be when such tools can analyze the clinical documentation installed, the vital signs, the flow sheets the nursing notes, the care plan charting, along with the manner in which error checking is best installed.

Internal and External Obstacles

One internal factor that was discovered during the environmental analysis which might be seen as a barrier to success of the proposed strategy is the fact that many of the employees who are already on the team, are resistant to change. This could be extremely detrimental to the success employment of these methods and strategies. In order for them to work correctly and smoothly, employees need to accept them and to embrace them as their own. Being resistant to change is pretty common in a range of professions, and it stems largely from fear -- fear of the unknown and fear of surprise: "This type of resistance occurs mainly when change is implemented without warning the affected stakeholders before the change occurs. When change (especially what is perceived as negative change) is pushed onto people without giving them adequate warning and without helping them through the process of understanding what the change will include and how their jobs/work will be affected, it can cause people to push back against the change due to their fear of the unknown" (Quast, 2012). This occurs mainly when employees feel like they have no say in how the change gets to impact them and can make them feel as though they don't have any agency over how the change gets to occur. It can make them feel a certain amount of helplessness. This sense of helplessness can become aggravated if employees don't understand how the change will actually benefit them. Thus, this internal obstacle can be overcome only through proper communication with all parties well involved. Good communication starts when all parties involved take the time to understand what the specific changes will actually include, who they will impact, how they will impact others and the real fundamentals of why people are likely to be resistant to the change. A higher amount of awareness of the reasons why one's employees might resist change can help one in anticipating those issues and eliminating fear, by allowing those people to know that these changes will be coming. Avoiding mistrust and the feeling of loss of control can be avoided by getting team members involved and asking them to offer their own input and feedback (Quast, 2012). Bad timing can be prevented by offering a clear vision for the reason for changes in conjunction with a timetable or a schedule of what to expect and when (Quast, 2012).

An external factor which might be a barrier to success that was discovered during the environmental analysis was the fact that the hospital is largely set in a community which is poorer and thus not as accepting of technology. Not every home in this community has a home computer or access to the Internet and might...

Thus, a major external barrier is the fact that community members really can't take advantage of the resources available, and aren't really aware of them. Thus, more donations and arenas of sponsorship need to come from donors in the community and their work, to provide community members with the tools they need in order to access records and resources online that the hospital provides, allowing them to better track their own health and health conditions. Donations from philanthropists and other individuals is a solid way to rectify this process along with community interventions designed to teach community members how to use computers and to reply more heavily on the internet.
Targeted Segment of the Market

The specific segment of the market that this organizational strategy is designed to target is the community members who suffer from a range of multi-faceted conditions and who are on several medications. This is because the organization strategy is so reliant not just on EMRs, but on the analytical tools in place to determine how effectively the EMRs are balancing the multiple medications, conflicts, allergies, side effects and other concerns of these patients. These strategies are essentially meant to target the more demanding clients who have more intensive needs than others and who are more in need of precision when it comes to managing their multiple conditions and in keeping themselves healthy. For example, a patient who has diabetes and heart disease would be a likely candidate of this overall service, as would be an individual who has alcoholism, liver disease and post-traumatic stress disorder. Because it's becoming more and more common for patients to suffer from multiple conditions, more hospitals are finding that their continued use of the most basic analytics tools just aren't efficient anymore. Many hospitals, particularly small and rural ones, continue to depend on their existing, basic, legacy intelligence systems, which are greatly limited in a variety of ways (Lewis, 2012).

While this is quite common for hospitals, even ones with client bases which have incredibly demanding needs, to still use business intelligence tools which just focus on financial and administrative data: "Realistically, a lot of hospitals will continue to use these processes for some time because of all the other aforementioned barriers to changing over to newer systems…Legacy business intelligence tools will be seen as 'good enough for now' until it just becomes too inefficient to continue"(Lewis, 2012). Essentially, the new technologies contained in these strategies attempt to target hospital practices which are outdated and which are undermining the effective ability to serve a given population of individuals.

After-Service Activities to be Effective in Marketing to the Target Customers

For these target customers, after-service activities really would be the most effective approach in marketing one's strategy to the organization's target customers. This is because there are so many loose ends for the customer to attempt to tie up after service: it is at this point many of the clients are attempting to manage multiple medications, medication times, diets, allergies, and new exercise regimes. Marketing to them in a way that makes it all appear to be under the guise of help or guidance is one of the most effective strategies possible. One way that after-sales services is able to be so effective is by leveraging customer feedback to bolster service levels (and also to stay ahead of competing healthcare facilities). All of the surveys demonstrated that while price is crucial to customers, some of the more fundamental issues are swiftness of delivery of care and success of this care. Quite often the relative importance of those expectations generally depends on the attitude of the customers towards risk, along with the capability of the health plan and strategy prescribed to the patient.

However, the savviest hospitals understand that no after-service marketing activity is going to make up for a negative patient experience. "Savvy hospitals also focus on providing an excellent patient experience through customer service training, reducing wait times and upgrading amenities, says Mr. Rivkin. A 1999 study by Kaiser Permanente Northern California of 2,000 women revealed that the impact of insensitive behavior is so strong that it negatively influences satisfaction and increases the likelihood of negative word of mouth" (Dunn, 2011). Furthermore, researchers at the USC Center for Health Policy and Economics (which was published…