Healthcare Budgetary Decision Making With Resources Becoming

Healthcare Budgetary Decision Making

With resources becoming increasingly limited in the healthcare industry, managers are continually challenged with devising effective strategies for dealing with budgetary concerns. The most prominent challenge comes in the form of decision making that results in striking a balance between cost reduction and the maintenance of high quality care and safety for patients. The following discussion outlines approaches that can be utilized by managers to effectively deal with budgetary concerns in healthcare settings, with an emphasis on the advantages of group decision making strategies.

It is evident that there is often a struggle in the healthcare industry for managers to continually and effectively manage depleting resources, address the ever-changing needs of patients, and all the while provide a high level of patient care (Sibbald et al., 2010). This struggle has at its core a need for improvement in regards to the processes in which priorities are established in the healthcare environment, an issue addressed through a study conducted by Sibbald et al. (2010). This study proposed the development and trialing of processes that could be used to effectively evaluate the methods used for prioritization of resources in healthcare institutions. The evaluation strategies explored in the study were designed for the assessment of substantive and procedural components to the prioritization process. These components included details specific to the maintenance of high quality care, including equipment and appropriate staffing, as well as understanding how effective current procedures for achieving a necessary balance between the provision of quality care and meeting budgetary goals. These aspects of the priority setting process were examined in the study through a multi-methods approach, which included interviewing decision-makers, staff surveys, and documentation analysis (Sibbald et al., 2010).

This study resulted in the development of an effective tool for the evaluation of priority setting in healthcare institutions, enabling managers to pinpoint where priorities may be shifted in order to more effectively allocate resources (Sibbald et al., 2010). Making staff members aware of priorities within the healthcare setting and how budgetary concerns can be addressed by adhering to these priorities could lend to a more cohesive group dynamic, in which employees at all levels are on the same page and making decisions directed towards the achievement of similar goals.

Effective decision making within healthcare institutions should have managerial direction, but also involve group process in which the manager delegates in a downward fashion detailed decision making processes (Burleson, 1984). Burleson (1984) describes how effective management structures may be described as pyramid shaped, where responsible leadership is present at each organizational level, group decision making reflects management philosophy in order to effectively bring budgetary and patient care objectives and goals into reality. Furthermore, the importance of competent, responsible leadership is key to effective organizational decision making involving groups of people in the healthcare environment (Burleson, 1984).