MHA FPX 5010 Assessment 4 Implementing and Evaluating the Strategic Action Plan

Implementing and Evaluating the Strategic Action Plan

Student Name

Capella University

MHA-FPX5010

Professor Name

Submission Date

The purpose of this paper is to share an implementation and evaluation framework that we have developed at Nor’easter Medical Center, a not-for-profit rural hospital in communities across Maine, to foster health equity and to tackle continuing workforce challenges. The American Hospital Association (AHA) Environmental Scan shows that inequities are further growing in rural areas, as rural hospitals serve some 20% of the American population, while simultaneously having a high share of staff shortages, exceeding 50% of all health care professionals suffering from burnout, and the growing need to implement flexible care models using technology to increase access to underserved populations.

Existing organizational assessments uncovered inequitable access to care and identified suboptimal workforce care access as a result of staffing gaps, clinician burnout, ineffective administrative processes, and lower capacity for recruitment and retention of staff, which disproportionately affected vulnerable and rural patients.

A strategic action plan was developed to tackle these interrelated challenges, ensuring that stability and practices are integrated into the operations of the organization, which are people-centred and take into account issues of gender justice. Some of the key activities involve the establishment of structured academic partnerships in order to build a viable—and community-based—workforce pipeline and the growth of hybrid roles and technology-based administrative jobs. The goals of achieving long-term compliance with the mission that Nor’easter Medical Center will provide all patients with equitable and patient-centered care and sustainability in the organization led to identifying the methodology of implementing these and measuring their results.

Implementation Plan

To implement the strategic action plan at Nor’easter Medical Center, a staged implementation plan with a series of coordinated actions will be followed. All of the actions will contribute to developing the capacity in the workforce and ensure access to healthcare in a consistent manner for all rural and underserved communities, leading to health equity. The first implementation prioritises the formalisation of collaborative partnerships between the nursing schools situated in the region and the higher education institutions.

This kind of partnership will maintain the structured clinical placement, internship, and job opportunities to build up a local workforce. This program will be the responsibility of two groups: Human Resources and clinical leadership, and executive sponsorship will be used to ensure this program remains aligned with the organization’s priorities. All of the essential inputs will be coordinated as partnerships, faculty involvement, and incentives for recruiting will be assigned, thus improving the long-term sustainability of staffing and reducing the need for temporary staffing.

The second phase of implementation focuses on improving the health of the workforce working in practice by delivering the comprehensive workforce retention and well-being program that will remove the disproportionate burden of burnout on equity of care delivery. Some of the interventions planned include providing access to confidential mental health services, peer support and mentorship, stress reduction programming, and structured employee recognition efforts.

Third, with regard to the working processes, the use of systems for artificial intelligence will be integrated in the administration of Nor’easter Medical Center, thereby improving the working processes.

These are voice-controlled clinical recordings, automated scheduling systems, and task-controlled systems. The information technology division will lead the way to make it usable and acceptable to staff as part of the clinical leaders. Staff training, system licensing and system upgrades to the digital infrastructure will be used in this step. These technologies will allow clinicians to focus more of their time on delivering more patient-centred and equitable care, reduce administrative workload and streamline documentation, and contribute to efficiency in the organisation.

The fourth step will see the extension of hybrid working opportunities to people who have qualified roles that aren’t clinical roles, for example, administrative services, billing, and information technology (IT) support. Human resources and departmental leadership will structure a pilot program for assessing productivity results, staff satisfaction, and technological preparedness. Systems for remote access that need to be secure, remote collaboration tools (virtual), training in remote operation procedures, etc. are required.

Flexibility in the employment context fulfills the national needs of the employment market; it helps improve recruitment and retention, particularly in professions that require a good work-life balance and that are interested in an employment position in equity-based healthcare missions.

Finally, Nor’easter Medical Center will explore funding opportunities from other sources with the goal of targeting state and federal funding resources and opportunities that have a direct impact on creating the rural workforce and advancing health equity. Identifying, applying for, and monitoring compliance with specific grant specialists will be the responsibility of the finance team. These funds will be allocated to staffing programs, wellness programs, and investments in technology—without adding significantly to this hospital’s operations budget.

The five steps of implementation all fall in line within a single, unified, and sustainable workforce transformation roadmap to improve equity in access to care and to support the long-term goal of the Nor’easter Medical Center.

Evaluation Plan

A system of assessments, based upon SMART performance goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-based) and the Balanced Scorecard approach, will be used to help evaluate the efficiency of the strategic programs that are in place at the Nor’easter Medical Center. This is a cumulative approach as it is measurable and leads to sustainable change in the organisation, in workforce stability and health equity outcomes. Balanced Scorecard will help the leadership monitor progress on each of the dimensions of financial performance, efficiency in internal operations, outcomes for the stakeholder/patient, and organizational learning and development.

By the end of quarter three, 80% of clinical staff should routinely leverage AI-driven health record technologies to save valuable time on paperwork and allow healthcare staff to focus more time on patient needs in underserved communities. Participation in wellness initiatives and mental health support will be a key measure in the learning and growth division to see the extent of investment in employees that will be equally distributed and based on equality. The aim is to have 70% or more of the staff involved in the wellness program or programs within 6 months of the introduction of the program.

Many of the participants will point to the effectiveness of burnout reduction and create an environment of psychologically safe working. For stakeholders, Nor’easter will also look at the success of recruitment as it relates to academic partnerships, and will seek to have at least 10 new staff members, licensed nurses, join the organization every year. This intervention helps to diversify the workforce in the longer term and to improve fair talent pipelines. The financial performance measures will include an anticipated 25% reduction in the number of workers supplied by staffing agencies and overtime costs in the first year to signify improved staffing levels’ predictability and use of resources.

These benchmarks will be measured using multiple different data sets, including the human resources retention dashboard, recruitment and onboarding, wellness involvement, analytics on the use of AI, and financial variance. Along with the quantitative indicators that it has, leadership will consider leadership questions such as how it has enhanced the health and well-being of its staff, how vulnerable groups receive more regular care, and how organizational changes are fulfilling its mission and pledges of equity. The results will help guide an ongoing process of plan adjustments to make sure the action plan will be responsive, efficient, and targeted toward equity-based organizational goals.

Table 1 Performance metrics supporting SMART objectives and domains of Balanced scorecard

Conclusion

The Nor’easter Medical Center’s efforts to meet longstanding challenges to the health care delivery system in the rural community and address the current plan improvement process dovetail with the issue of health equity. It wants to implement the proper technology to modernize its work system, modify its hiring process to ensure it is more inclusive, and shift more of its effort toward employee wellness and to help create a stable, supported, and diverse workforce that will meet the needs of the community fairly and consistently.

It will lead to a better staff transition and reduce inequities affecting caregivers and patients. LT development is, however, hinged on responsible governance and leadership with communal ownership across the governance and operational levels. Opportunities for the chief executive, senior leaders and partners to keep an active presence to ensure resource mobilisation and to sustain values that focus on equity; ensure that the momentum continues and that strategic work becomes embedded – meaning that system-wide change and development that will lead to improved access, levels of trust and quality of care for all populations served in the region.