Company Overview
Vanguard Health Systems was established in 1997 and operates hospitals such as Detroit Medical Center and other varied medical facilities, with over 30,000 employees, in five major states including Michigan, Texas, Massachusetts, Arizona and Illinois. The company operates over twenty hospital systems, which provide various medical services ranging from outpatient and emergency care, surgery and orthopedics to rehabilitation, women’s and children healthcare and obstetrics among others. With the healthcare industry becoming more and more competitive, Vanguard’s strategy has involved incorporation of non-profit healthcare provision with the varied assets of a privately-held for-profit corporation, highly motivated to succeed in the industry. The status of the company’s operations and the outcomes, from effective resource utilization to positive patient care outcomes experienced, indicate that the firm is ready to address healthcare needs of citizens into the next decade (Vanguard Health Systems, 2013).
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Management
Fundamentally, management involves working with and through people in achieving set organizational goals and objectives, guided by functions such as planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling, with regards to the available organizational resources. Vanguard’s readiness for future success is highlighted by the decentralization of authority, as indicated by retention and respect of partner’s autonomy and local authority (Vanguard Health Systems, 2013), which also accompanies decision-making responsibility and accountability. This will ensure that capable managers, through their varied skills, knowledge and experience, are tasked towards enhancing operational efficiency and pro-active management of external changes, whether opportunities or threats. The firm’s human resource management practices entails recruitment of the best physicians, administrators and other vital medical personnel, which is embodied in the choice of partners chosen to join the company.
Furthermore, it is dedicated towards innovation, which reflects creation of a learning-oriented organization that seeks continuous improvement towards overall positive organizational development, especially with regards to network expansion and collaboration. This is supported by a strong corporate culture, comprised of positive values and principles as well as mission and vision statements which underpin employee productivity and involvement towards provision of high quality, customer-centric healthcare delivery. The firm has also worked hard to use, maintain and upgrade modern information and medical systems, effective resource utilization, risk awareness and management (Vanguard Health Systems, 2012) as well as provision of high quality, diverse and patient-centered health care including cost-effective health plans.
Leadership
The managerial elements and associated practices represented above, lends credence to Vanguard’s preparedness to address healthcare needs of citizens into the next decade, considering that these elements form the foundation for Vanguard’s future success. This venture into the future is further reinforced by the firm’s leadership, composed by executives tasked with varied firm-wide functions including strategy and innovation, operations, medical services, finance, risk management, general counsel, compliance and ethics as well as human resource. Fundamentally, the firm’s activities, as well as their continued adaptation in line with external changes, as advocated for by Reeves, Deimler & Love (2012), are informed by strategic and operational planning, with focus principally placed on network growth, patient satisfaction, nurse staffing and resource management.
Strategic Plan Elements
Network Growth
Network growth will involve seeking partnerships and acquisitions towards industry leadership exemplified by high performance in healthcare quality, positive patient outcomes especially safety and experience as well as medical personnel involvement. These expansionist ideas will be integrated into implementable plans and programs where more hospital systems, augmented by creation of medical research and development facilities, will be acquired to cater to the increasing number of patients. In line with this, better management practices will be used to run these new enterprises especially in relation to financial and logistics management without draining vital resources from the firm, for success in a highly competitive environment.
Resource Management and Nurse Staffing
The strategic plan will also essentially feature effective utilization and management of the resources availed by the individual hospitals especially vital facilities housing specialized state-of-the-art equipment for use in varied medical situations from surgery to rehabilitation. Intellectual capital and associated resources, especially those gleaned through research and development will also be safeguarded and effectively managed and utilized, through firm-wide application of evidence-based medical practices to ensure positive patient outcomes. This management and utilization will be informed by enhanced financial management practices that will ensure cost effectiveness is maintained not only for hospital operations but also in relation to patient access to medical care, such as the varied health plans already implemented in different hospitals and states. With the number of nurses decreasing with time, more effort will be expended in attracting more nurses and other medical personnel especially physicians, both employed and non-employed as well as development of new and better models of healthcare provision. Founded on continuous learning, training and development, effort by medical personnel will record high performance in terms of safety, experience and quality especially through timely dissemination of vital information, drugs and other related materials. Supported by efforts in environmental management and sustenance, engagement with communities, as part of the firm’s vital stakeholders will also feature as a major component of the strategic plan considering that the community directly contributes to the firm’s success.
Patient Satisfaction
The elements related to network growth and resource management, including nurse staffing, among other medical personnel, will all be availed towards ensuring positive patient outcomes and overall satisfaction, in relation to cost and quality of healthcare provided. This is especially in relation to use of hired talented personnel, with most being internally trained and their use of highly advanced processes, equipment and evidence-based practices. These efforts will be maintained by the firm’s growth and strengthening of its reputation, utilization of integrated marketing communications and access to capital markets, which provide a foundational starting point for future success towards advanced healthcare provision.
Conclusion
Summarily, the management elements, activities and strategies provided shows Vanguard’s readiness in addressing the health care needs of citizens in the next decade. This will be aided by the capable leadership structure established, covering all the crucial aspects of running the enterprise, from operations, strategy and innovation to compliance ethics. The strategic plan elements provide a framework by which a detailed strategic plan and the associated action plans will be formulated and implemented, with high potential of success, if periodic monitoring and evaluation of strategies and integrating necessary changes, is maintained. In this case, periodic analysis, understanding and subsequent initiation of necessary strategies, in relation to the firm’s internal and external environment as depicted in the firm’s annual report of 2012, which outlines the firm’s strengths and risks, will be of utmost importance (Vanguard Health Systems, 2012).
- Reeves, M., Deimler, M.S. & Love, C. (2012). Why strategy needs a strategy: The Boston
Consulting Group. Harvard Business Review, 1-5. - Vanguard Health Systems. (2012). Vanguard Health Systems: Annual report. Retrieved from
http://investor.vanguardhealth.com/ - Vanguard Health Systems. (2013). Vanguard Health Systems: The Vanguard strategy. Retrieved
from http://www.vanguardhealth.com/the-vanguard-strategy
