Health organizations' preparation for future challenges

Healthcare Organizational Readiness & Strategy

Healthcare Organization Network

Company Profile

Vanguard operates 25 acute care and three specialty hospitals in urban and suburban areas of Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Texas. Across the Vanguard hospital system, there are roughly 7,100 licensed beds ("Hoover," 2014). The Vanguard regional health care system provides a continuum of care that spans outpatient centers, medical office buildings, clinics, and hospitals ("Hoover," 2014). Vanguard operates four managed health care plans serving members in Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, and Texas ("Hoover," 2014).

Although Vanguard Health Systems declared it "wants to lead the way to better health care," in 2013, Vanguard was acquired by Tenet Healthcare ("Hoover," 2014). The Tenet Healthcare system extended the range of services to 80 hospitals, more than 190 outpatient centers, 36,000 affiliated physicians, more than 105,000 employee, and six health care plans ("Hoover," 2014). Tenet is a for-profit organization operating in 14 states in the U.S., including California, Florida, and Texas ("Hoover," 2014). The Tenet system includes acute care hospitals, specialty hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, physician practices, outpatient centers, imaging centers, health plans, and other health care units ("Hoover," 2014). The basic plan has developed into regional networks that are located around the main hospitals in the system ("Hoover," 2014). Tenet also holds and operates Conifer Health Solutions, which is a patient billing and communications company ("Hoover," 2014). The acquisition of Vanguard by Tenet created the third-largest investor-owned hospital company in the U.S. On the basis of revenue and number of hospitals owned. Tenet ranked No. 229 in the 2014 Fortune 500 list of the Largest American companies.

The Tenet Health system exhibits a "culture of innovation that creates new solutions for the challenges and opportunities in the healthcare system" ("Tenet," 2014). The Tenet Health system claims include, "We're Improving Health. We're Transforming Care. We're Ready for What's Next" ("Tenet," 2014). Tenet is very much a business, an the company strives to enhance the level of service and care that is provided. One of the ways Tenet is working on this goal is through innovative partnerships with companies that share their passion for moving health forward ("Tenet," 2014). The company has invested in new technology to support their neurosurgery initiatives. Tenet provides the clinical and infrastructure for an extensive accountable care organizations (ACO) program that is designed to deliver better comprehensive care at lower cost by "accessing resources and best practices from across the company and rewarding physicians and hospitals for quality care improvements" ("Tenet," 2014).

For decades, Tenet has been plagued with lawsuits and federal investigations for unnecessary surgeries and hospitalizations, and for improperly billing Medicare. As recently as April 2012, Tenet paid $42.75 million to resolve allegations arising from the Medicare billing investigation between 2005 and 2007. Since roughly 2009, efforts by the Tenet Health system to improve their reputation and their share price have been successful. Tenet has implemented an ethics program and stresses that all employees, "See it. Say it. Fix it." ("Tenet," 2014).