Introduction
Dignity Health is a non-profit health care system that operates a network of hospitals and other health care-related facilities in Arizona, California, and Nevada. The headquarters of the health care organization is located in San Francisco, California. Dignity Health was founded in 1986, and today the organization provides such types of health care services like primary care, chronic disease management, trauma services, preventive treatment, and special medical services in more than 40 hospitals and medical centers located in Arizona, California, and Nevada (Dignity Health, 2015). This paper aims to present the analysis of Dignity Health’s readiness for proposing high-quality services during the next decade and to provide a strategic plan that responds to the issues associated with network growth, nurse staffing, resource management, and patient satisfaction.
Readiness for the Next Decade
Dignity Health can be discussed as an organization that works to implement strategies to address the changes in the U.S. and global health care industry. Currently, the health care system provides care to about 6,000,000 patients during a year (Dignity Health, 2015). To improve the quality of the provided care and support, it is necessary to focus on implementing the unifying strategy or complex program that serves to standardize the care and improve the facilities’ collaboration. Dignity Health addressed the necessity to transform the approach to health care while implementing the IT system guaranteeing the exchange of information between health care facilities in states. The leaders of the organization admit the necessity of focusing on the implementation of contemporary IT systems to support collaboration and communication within the health care network (Barone & Shmerling, 2013, p. 56). However, employees working at the facilities demonstrate resistance to changes because of the active implementation of new approaches and strategies in contrast to the traditional methods followed in hospitals. The problem is in the fact that 24 hospitals in the discussed network are Catholic, and management and care in these facilities is based on traditions (Dignity Health, 2015). To address the issue of the employees’ resistance to changes effectively, it is necessary to pay more attention to training and development programs. Thus, Dignity Health follows the developed training plan for employees to address the issue and to guarantee the provision of patients with high-quality services.
Strategic Plan
To respond to the current trends in the health care industry effectively and be ready to provide efficient services during the next decade, Dignity Health needs a developed strategic plan. The reason is that the strategic plan will present approaches for implementing IT systems as well as standardization and transformation programs. Furthermore, a strategic plan is effective to provide techniques for addressing the employees’ resistance to changes in hospitals and medical centers.
Network Growth
Dignity Health is a growing organization that develops strategies for acquiring more hospitals and transforming the existing ones. During the recent decade, four new hospitals were founded or acquired by Dignity Health. For instance, St. Joseph’s Westgate Medical Center was founded by Dignity Health in Glendale, Arizona, in 2014; and the organization plans to build and acquire new facilities in different cities of Arizona, California, and Nevada. Furthermore, Dignity Health works to expand the provision of urgent care services in the U.S. states because currently, these services are provided in 17 states (Dignity Health, 2015). The growth of the network is possible because the organization does not depend on federal and state taxes.
Nurse Staffing
Dignity Health pays much attention to recruiting the nurse staff because of the necessity to guarantee high-quality care. There are many open positions in different hospitals and centers of the health care system because the network is large, and many facilities are currently expanding. The largest number of openings is characteristic for St. Joseph’s Westgate Medical Center, and this situation is associated with the necessity to recruit the staff for the newly founded facility. It is possible to state that Dignity Health follows effective human resource management strategies to attract and retain the nurse staff. The main focus is on rewards and compensation management (Bhatnagar & Srivastava, 2012, p.76). Furthermore, managers work to attract former volunteers to take part-time positions in facilities.
Resource Management
Dignity Health has no open positions for CEOs because of the following appointing the leaders in new facilities from the other positions in hospitals and medical centers. However, the other skilled employees, managers, and administrators are usually recruited from local applicants or from specialists living in the main cities of the states. While referring to equipment resources, it is important to mention that Dignity Health has developed an effective strategy in managing material resources. The main focus is on reducing costs and clinical standardization. As a result, standardized equipment, supplies, and technologies are used in the facilities to promote collaboration. Even though the newest technologies are purchased for the facilities, the reduction in costs is possible with references to effective management of resources and clinical integration that guarantees the high coordination and efficient use of resources (Macfarlane, 2014, p. 264). From this point, the focus on implementing new IT systems and the use of standardized and coordinated equipment and systems leads to decreasing the costs of care and supplies.
Patient Satisfaction
The quality of the services provided in hospitals and medical centers of Dignity Health is high, and patients are satisfied with the received care. Furthermore, sustainability and corporate responsibility strategies and programs followed in Dignity Health also serve to increase the level of the patients’ satisfaction regarding the received care (Dignity Health, 2015). The only issue associated with patient satisfaction is the problem of balancing nursing ethics and religious beliefs. In spite of the fact that the staff of Dignity Health focuses on promoting the value of excellence in relation to services, the majority of hospitals are Catholic, where traditional values are promoted. Thus, Dignity Health works to improve the code of conduct for nurses and other medical staff to guarantee the ethical behavior and addressing the patients’ values and beliefs.
Conclusion
Dignity Health is one of the largest health care systems operating in more than one state in the United States, and the organization has the potential for the further growth because the company is oriented to building and acquiring new facilities in Arizona, California, and Nevada. In spite of issues associated with the employees’ resistance to change in Catholic hospitals and ethical compliance issues, Dignity Health develops the effective standardization and clinical integration system that serves to connect health care facilities in different cities and states in order to improve the quality of care and reduce associated costs.
References
Barone, J., & Shmerling, S. (2013). Strategically using IT resources in health care. Physician Executive, 39(1), 56-67.
Bhatnagar, K., & Srivastava, K. (2012). Job satisfaction in health-care organizations. Industrial Psychiatry Journal, 21(1), 75-85.
Dignity Health. (2015). Web.
Macfarlane, M. (2014). Sustainable competitive advantage for accountable care organizations. Journal of Healthcare Management, 59(4), 263-271.