Just like other organizations, healthcare organizations rely on the strategic plan to promote the success of their operations as well as facilitate their efficiency. Various strategic planning techniques can be employed to define the direction of the organization, and they include PEST and the SWOT analysis. A proper strategic plan for a healthcare organization is composed of four steps not to mention environmental scanning, strategy formulation along with an evaluation, strategy evaluation, as well as necessitating communication (Kash et al., 2014). The strategic plan should also be designed in a way that aligns with the organization’s mission and values. United Healthcare is among the healthcare organizations that have employed the utilization of strategic planning. This type of planning has helped to outline efficiency in the organization through its processes. This paper also attempts to present the strategic plan of the United Healthcare Organization as well as how it uses its value chain to devise its strategic plan.
Organization Mission, Vision, And Key Values
United Healthcare strives to ensure that patients not only access quality care but also ensure that its care services are affordable. This has been done by translating its mission and vision statement into action while inflicting its staff and workforce with key values that will help them deliver quality services. The mission and the vision statement of the organization are about helping people maintain healthier lives plus assisting in making the health system work effectively for everyone (Kash et al., 2014). The organization believes that the mission statement will be accomplished by working with care professionals along with other key partners to deliver quality care at affordable prices. The organization also tries to translate the mission and vision into action by promoting patient-physician relationships to enhance information exchange that will eventually help the patients make informed health choices. The key values of the organization are integrity, compassion, innovation, performance, and relationship. These values will help to influence the staff, along with other employees, to work towards the realization of the vision and the mission statements.
Framework Of A Strategic Plan
The strategic model of the United Health Organization is composed of four aspects, the first being a portrait that outlines the general attributes of the organization. Apparently, the United Healthcare Organization is a care organization that offers healthcare products along with health financial plans. The care organization also ensures that people live healthier lives by facilitating physician-patient engagement in conjunction with providing quality care at an affordable cost. The second aspect of the model is the plan that outlines the priorities of the organization in the consequent five years (Kash et al., 2014). The plan will, however, be revised within five years, and thus, it is a living document that cannot be completed. The third aspect of the model is the annual budget which incorporates the considerations for new funding as well as the reallocation of the current funds. The fourth aspect is the value statement, and the organizational goals that present the general principles attribute underlying the tactical and strategic planning. The employees are inflicted with compassion, performance and integrity to deliver quality care. The organization also capitalizes on technology to embrace innovation that advances care at an effective cost.
The Relationship Between Strategic Plan And Organizational Mission Vision, And Values
The purpose of the strategic plan draws a relationship between the plan itself and the mission, values, and mission of the United Healthcare Organization. Imperatively, the vision, mission, along value statements of this organization outline the organizational role of the staff of the organization as well as its management. The strategic plan, however, ensures that this statement is translated into practice, subsequently contributing to the relationship between the plan and the statements (Demarzo et al., 2015). To clarify, the strategic plan focuses on necessitating change, and it tries to initiate this change by moving the organization forward to create change. The mission, in conjunction with the vision statement, will help to communicate the objectives of the plan not only to the staff and the workforce but also to the general public. Apparently, the mission and the vision statement of the United Healthcare organization are driven towards ensuring that people maintain healthier lives by accessing quality care at affordable costs. The strategic plan strives to transform these statements into action by ensuring that the care staff works towards meeting the strategic plan objectives that are driven towards ascertaining the mission and the vision statements.
United Healthcare Organization Organizational Structure
The United Healthcare Organization began in 2011, and as of 2012, the organization created an enterprise reorganization that aligned with retiring brands, hence acquiring them in the previous years. Consequently, these acquisitions led to the rebranding of the organization as the United Healthcare. To date, the organization has grown to Optum and the United Healthcare. The Optum is composed of three divisions, the first being Optuminsight, which deals with payment integrity, medical billing, and life science. It is also composed of OptumHealth, which deals with care delivery services and customer support (Demarzo et al., 2015). Secondly, United Healthcare is composed of four subdivisions, the first being United Healthcare individual and employer that provides health financial plans. The second subdivision is the United Healthcare Retirement and Medicare, which is concerned about the health of people aged 50 years and above. Other subdivisions of United Healthcare are United Healthcare Global along with the United Healthcare community and state.
Key Leaders In United Healthcare Organization
The organization has a strong leadership team that guides the mission of the organization. Top in the hierarchy is the executive chairman, who is mandated to support the senior management team. The chairman also manages the strategic responsibilities of the board. Next below the hierarchy is the chief executive officer, who is accountable for the overall performance of the organization along with providing strategic direction (Demarzo et al., 2015). Next down the hierarchy is the vice chairman, who oversees the activities run by the organization. The executive vice president is the consequent down the hierarchy and is involved in overseeing the human resources aspects not to mention talent management and compensation and benefits. External affairs managers is also a leadership role in the organization and are involved in overseeing the functions of the organization, and they include social responsibility efforts and international relations. Other leaders taking key roles in the organization are the chief marketing officer, chief medical officer, and chief accounting officer.
Change Management Model For The United Healthcare
The United Healthcare organization borrowed knowledge regarding the change from the change model of Lewin. The model assumes three processes that are not limited to unfreezing and change in conjunction with the freeze. In the first step, which entails unfreezing, the organizational management identified various areas that needed change. Apparently, the management understood that it was necessary to enhance innovations to improve care delivery services and so it had to spearhead the aspect of installing the up-to-date technology in the care system (Phillips & Phillips, 2017). The second step changes where the management often communicated to the staff about the anticipated change. The management also empowered the staff by training them about using the trending technology to promote the smooth running of the care processes. Eventually, refreezing is the final step of the change model that entails reinforcing change to become a habit. The organization is making use of these steps by hiring staff that are familiar with technology while educating the existing staff about technology.
Governance Impact On Strategic Goals Implementation
The board of directors primarily forms the strategic goals first to drive the alignment of the organization. In other words, they come up with this plan to ensure that the staff are always on track. Consequently, it promotes collegiality as well as creates an opportunity for discussion regarding the direction of the organization, where the employees will be transformed culturally to act in line with the plan. The directors also create the plan to provide direction and clarity, as well as the focus of the organization (Phillips & Phillips, 2017). In particular, the plan attempts to develop questions that address three key areas including plan, vision, and mission. The directors will develop such a plan to drive the success of the company by working towards accomplishing the three areas mentioned above. Finally, the directors usually form the strategic goals to communicate the message present in the vision and the mission statements. Employees who are informed about these statements will always work to meet the anticipations of these statements. Therefore, the board of directors plays a critical role in developing the strategic goals.
Major Service Delivery Of The Organization
United Healthcare Organization is an international organization that is headquartered in Minnesota in the United States. The organization presents its customers with various health benefit programs, and it mostly targets individuals along with their families to present them with dental alongside other healthcare coverage. It also targets employers to integrate their employees into various financial health plans. The organization is known to offer a broad range of services and programs to its customers (Albers, Wohlgezogen, & Zajac, 2016). To mention a few, it offers Medicare plans for people aged 65 years and above as well as small business plans for businesses that have hired up to 99 employees. The organizations have hired proficient healthcare staff responsible for administering their patients with superb care. The organization has employed the four Ps of marketing strategy which is evident through presenting its customers with product options at effective prices. The billing representative always engages the customers to ensure that their invoices are accurate. The organization also makes follow-ups to their customers to ensure they maintain a healthy lifestyle. The organization has maintained a culture of promoting quality care at an effective cost. This has been done by embracing innovation through installing technology that ensures processes run smoothly and efficiently. It has also maintained a highly skilled healthcare staff to deliver quality care. Finally, the organization has always capitalized on technology and in fact, it leads to technological innovation in the healthcare industry not only in the United States but globally.
Implementing The Strategic Plan
Imperatively, United Healthcare is coupled with a conglomeration of activities that are driven toward implementing the strategic plan. Firstly, it is apparent the organization is headquartered in the U.S., but it operates in various countries. This augments the accessibility of care services to its customers. Secondly, the organization targets various population segments, starting from individuals and their families in conjunction with small businesses along with employers to ensure that everyone can access its services at an affordable cost. Thirdly, the organizations offer various programs and services, particularly financial health covers with different options (Albers, Wohlgezogen, & Zajac, 2016). Its clinical operations are also fostered by high skilled healthcare workforce to eventually promote a healthy population where everyone maintains a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, the organization has a culture of delivering quality care that is facilitated through up-to-date technology as well as inflicting its staff with various core values that influence them to prioritize the needs of the patients. For this reason, looking at the value chain, it is obvious that the implementation plan of the organization will be termed successful.
Conclusion
Just like any other organization, a strategic plan is a suitable and reliable tool for guiding healthcare organizations. The plan also makes it necessary for healthcare organizations to run their processes smoothly as well as enhance their expansion along with increasing their profits. Nevertheless, it is vital to be informed about how the tool works to promote its effectiveness. To put it clearly, it is vital to adhere to various components, and again, it is advisable to understand the relationship between the strategic plan and the organization’s mission, vision, and value statements (Albers, Wohlgezogen, & Zajac, 2016). In conclusion, an organization can always translate these statements into action as well as work towards meeting the strategic objectives by generating the change model and putting them into practice.
References
Albers, S., Wohlgezogen, F., & Zajac, E. J. (2016). Strategic alliance structures: An organization design perspective. Journal of Management, 42(3), 582-614. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206313488209
Demarzo, M. M. P., Cebolla, A., & Garcia-Campayo, J. (2015). The implementation of mindfulness in healthcare systems: a theoretical analysis. General hospital psychiatry, 37(2), 166-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2014.11.013
Kash, B. A., Spaulding, A., Johnson, C. E., & Gamm, L. (2014). Success factors for strategic change initiatives: A qualitative study of healthcare administrators’ perspectives. Journal of Healthcare Management, 59(1), 65-81. Retrieved from https://journals.lww.com/jhmonline/Abstract/2014/01000/Success_Factors_for_Strategic_Change_Initiatives_.11.aspx
Phillips, S. L., & Phillips, J. V. (2017). Using Primary Care Payment Models as a Catalyst for Improvement. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 18(7), 558-560.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2017.03.007
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