Strategies to Improve Service Delivery in Healthcare

Strategic Planning Using Benchmarking Data In Healthcare
Strategic planning is an important antecedent of success in any organization. In the health sector, benchmarking is essential in the strategic planning process because it considers the factors that can be adopted to enhance service delivery and patient satisfaction. With the relevant benchmarking data, the administrator can focus on structuring the management risks, care quality in the healthcare system, and the control of healthcare costs. With such parameters, the projects relating to the healthcare systems will be premised on relevant development indicators. Benchmarking is the process of analyzing and incorporating success factors in a particular process with the aim of enhancing performance in a given industry such as the health sector (Ettorchi-Tardy, Levif & Michel, 2012). Therefore, health administrators should look at the standards geared towards guaranteeing best practices suited to enhancing patients’ expectations.
I will consider clinical governance as a benchmarking activity in my future role as a healthcare administrator. The governance model provides the healthcare system with a systematic approach when it comes to improving and maintain the quality of service accorded to patients. Therefore, the delivery of service and the provision of care is well maintained by all administrators in the healthcare facility. In such instances, the whole essence of giving quality care to patients will involve making a structural comparison and the sharing of good practice. With the benchmarking approach, the idea relates to providing continuous support for the improvement of patient’s care quality and their experiences. For example, by looking at the privacy and dignity aspects of patient’s experience, an administrator should look into incorporating the opinions, experiences, and expectations of their patients and caregivers (Ettorchi-Tardy, Levif & Michel, 2012). Therefore, it is essential for the future administrator to learn from others, and this is expanded to the aspect of learning with others. By so doing, the administrators will be developing innovative and new practices that meet the expectations and needs of all their patients.
Another benchmarking data to consider will be the generic benchmarking concept where administrators will be forced to look beyond their data sets and give focus to their general processes when it comes to managing the healthcare institution. In this data, administrators are going to be introducing new ways of thinking through which change is expected to occur (Kay, 2007). For such data to be useful, it becomes necessary for administrators to look at a variety of companies and industries and understand how they conduct their main admission processes. Internal benchmarking is also important because it gives administrators a clue of what parts of their organization are lagging. Therefore, they will have a clear direction on what needs to be undertaken to improve the processes in that part of the organization.
Administrators in strategic planning contexts encounter various challenges related to the need to be agile in day-to-day operations. Therefore, smaller needs like attaining flexibility in staffing levels and even minor issues of training nurses and other needs should be considered. In such instances, administrators are called to be proactive, especially in understanding future possibilities and strategizing to ensure their organizations succeed. However, this is possible when appropriate benchmarking data is used (Kay, 2007). Therefore, the administrators should shift towards value-based strategies and initiatives allowing them to jump on arising opportunities.
Healthcare administrators should consider mergers and acquisitions as part of their expansion strategies. Planning committees also need to have meetings with their boards to necessitate the making of corporate decisions when opportunities of acquisition arise. However, decisions on the steps to be made should be premised on relevant data, especially in their ambulatory care environment. The benchmarking data is essential for administrators because they help them in attaining benchmarking purposes in healthcare environments and facilities.




References
Ettorchi-Tardy, A., Levif, M., & Michel, P. (2012). Benchmarking: a method for continuous quality improvement in health. Healthcare Policy, 7(4), e101.
Kay, J. (2007). Healthcare benchmarking. Medical Bulletin, 12(2), 22-27.