The Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations

A comprehensive guide to effective strategic management of health care organizations.

The Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations provides essential guidance for leading health care organizations through strategic management. This structured approach examines the processes of strategic thinking, consensus building, and documentation of that thinking into a strategic plan, while creating and maintaining strategic momentum—all essential for coping with the rapidly evolving health care industry.

The Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations fully explains how strategic managers must become strategic thinkers with the ability to evaluate a changing industry, analyse data, question assumptions, and develop new ideas. The book guides readers through the strategic planning process, demonstrating how to incorporate strategic thinking and create and document a clear and coherent plan of action. In addition, the all-important processes of creating and maintaining strategic momentum are fully described. Finally, the text demonstrates how strategic managers, in carrying out the strategic plan, must evaluate its success, learn what works, and incorporate new strategic thinking into operations and subsequent planning.

This strategic management approach has become the de facto standard for health care management, as leadership and strategic management are more critical than ever in coping with an industry in flux. This book provides health care management students as well as administrators with foundational guidance on strategic management concepts and practices, tailored to the unique needs of the health care industry. Included are discussions of health services external analysis, organisational internal analysis, the development of directional strategies, strategy alternative identification and evaluation, and the development and management of implementation strategies providing an informative and insightful resource for anyone in the field.

This new eighth edition has been fully updated to reflect new insights into strategic thinking, new methods to conceptualise and document critical environmental issues, practical steps for carrying out each of the strategic management processes, industry and management essentials for strategic thinkers, and new case studies for applying the strategic management processes. More specifically, readers of this edition will be able to:

• Create a process for developing a strategic plan for a health care organisation.
• Map and analyse external issues, trends, and events in the general environment, the health care system, and the service area.
• Conduct a comprehensive service area competitor analysis.
• Perform an internal analysis and determine the competitive advantages and disadvantages.
• Develop directional strategies.
• Identify strategic alternatives and make rational strategic decisions for a health care organisation.
• Develop a comprehensive strategy for a health care organisation.
• Create effective value-adding service delivery and support strategies.
• Translate service delivery and support plans into specific action plans.

The health care industry’s revolutionary change remains ongoing, and organisational success depends on leadership. Strategic management has become the single clearest manifestation of effective leadership of health care organisations, and the strategic management framework’s strengths are needed now more than ever. The Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations provides comprehensive guidance and up-to-date practices to help leaders keep their organisations on track.