Critical Appraisal of an Organization’s Strategic Plan

A strategic plan provides a plan and direction to an organization guiding it on how to achieve the desired goals and attain optimal success. According to Lal (2020), a successful nursing strategic project creates a feasible roadmap for the future and gives nurses a clear direction to follow to reenergize an institution. Moreover, a solid strategic plan is a vital component in fostering excellent patient care and enhanced prognoses (Lal, 2020). Such schemes have basic features, including mission and vision statements, goals, and a practical action proposition for a facility (Lal, 2020). Hughes Health and Rehabilitation (HHR), founded over fifty years ago, is a family-owned and independent nursing home located at 29^th Highland Street, Westford, Connecticut (HHR, n.d.). A critical appraisal of HHR’s strategic plan will shed considerable light on this evidence-based process from a nurse executive’s perspective.

Strategic Plan Analysis

Analyzing HHR nursing home’s plan reveals that the facility strives to provide high-quality, specialized, and safe nursing, medical, and rehabilitative interventions aligned with the clients’ and community’s needs. Some of the highlighted priorities this nursing home focuses on are using its core values of compassion, respect, honesty, and trustworthiness to design a caring environment for all its patients. Moreover, the management team led by the administrator Lina Dureza pinpoints the need for an evidence-based inclination to provide high-quality long-term care, rehabilitation services, respite management, and palliative or hospice treatments (HHR, n.d.). Care coordination, client advocacy, interprofessional collaboration, continuous education, and sustainability emphasis are also some of the goals the facility strives to achieve to benefit its clientele and the community optimally. These care priorities guide the staff in providing meaningful services for patients admitted to the unit.

The identified priorities align with HHR’s mission and vision statements. The nursing home’s mission is ‘To provide health care services in an environment where caring makes the difference’ while the vision is ‘to be known as the best provider in the community. The core values of honesty, trustworthiness, respect, compassion, and the provision of quality care-family style, are our guiding principles in delivering care and services’. These statements drive HHR to offer research-oriented, client-centered, and culturally competent treatment interventions to Connecticut residents and the United States overall (HHR, n.d.). The facility’s mission and vision also keep the staff grounded, allowing organizational improvement, patient satisfaction, and sustainable practices.

Validity of Data and Analytical Strategies

HHR nursing home develops its key performance indicators (KPIs) using internal and external data. Internal insights helpful in designing these quality measures include patient satisfaction rates, care outcomes, admission data, and internal performance indicators. The HHR staff obtains client contentment data from patient surveys or personal treatment records. Evaluating this information helps one understand the quality and safety levels of the interventions offered and potential improvement areas, as clients are the primary beneficiaries of the nursing home services (Al Rashidi, Al Wahaibi, Mahomed, Al Afifi, & Al Awaidy, 2020). Moreover, internal quality benchmarks and care outcomes such as vaccination rates, staff ratings, pressure injuries, falls, recidivism incidences, emergency department visits, and overall hospitalization statistics also guide HHR in deriving KPIs to comprehend success and improvement factors (Clark & Woeppel, 2018). Furthermore, external regulatory bodies such as the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services (CMS), which often conducts health inspections on the nursing home, provide rating insights on quality indicators, staff performance, and general environs useful in deriving KPIs (HHR, n.d.). Therefore, internal and external data can formulate meaningful KPIs upholding quality and safety emphasis in a healthcare institution.

The data sources guiding the HHR nursing home’s priorities originate from numerous sources. These references include the CMS, internal insights, public health data, and benchmark scores. The CMS is a primary regulatory body which evaluates HHR’s performance, including staff performance, quality measures, and environmental suitability (HHR, n.d.). Internal indices from audits and patient records, such as mortality or morbidity rates, readmissions, and medical errors, also determine clinical priorities (Clark & Woeppel, 2018). Public health data also deciphers the quality performance of the HHR nursing home as they aspire to provide quality healthcare aligned with community needs. Thus, identifying credible data sources guides KPI evaluation optimizing care quality and safety.

Stakeholder Input

Stakeholder engagement is an imperative component of strategic planning. The HHR nursing home does not clearly outline the parties involved in this evidence-based process. However, its vision and mission statements reinforce the need for patient, staff, and community collaboration during clinical decision-making to achieve optimal outcomes guided by the facility’s core values (HHR, n.d.). The board of directors, patient representatives, and clinical staff leaders have the mandate to make meaningful decisions prioritizing healthcare delivery and client needs. Collecting patient, staff, and community perspectives regarding care provision through surveys and comprehensive population assessment activities will help these stakeholders prioritize care areas and direct their focus and attention for improved outcomes (Al Rashidi et al., 2020). Nevertheless, the board of directors and regulatory bodies such as CMS have the final say in strategic planning decision-making for the HHR nursing home. Hence, identifying the appropriate stakeholders during strategic planning streamlines the process and spearheads swift goal attainment.

Balanced Scorecard

HHR’s strategic priorities have adequate balance as the board of directors give equal attention to all measures for enhanced patient satisfaction. The facility will focus on boosting financial wellbeing, customer satisfaction, internal processes, and growth opportunities concurrently as all these factors have a direct correlation. For instance, without affordable services, HHR nursing home may not attract adequate clientele and may record more medical errors because of minimal emphasis on evidence-based methods. A balanced approach to strategic priorities ensures optimal benefits to all stakeholders.

Conclusion

Strategic planning for healthcare facilities, especially nursing homes is imperative to create feasible roadmaps to success and enhanced patient care. Considering stakeholder input, KPIs, and strategic priorities makes the implementation process rather seamless. Health professionals should invest in evidence-based planning to optimize organizational functioning.

References

Al Rashidi, B., Al Wahaibi, A. H., Mahomed, O., Al Afifi, Z., & Al Awaidy, S. (2020). Assessment of key performance indicators of the primary health care in Oman: A cross-sectional observational study. Journal of Primary Care & Community Health, 11, 2150132720946953. Doi: 10.1177/2150132720946953

Best, C. (2020). Patient satisfaction metrics. In Quality Measures (pp. 127-150). Springer, Cham. Doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-37145-6_9

Clack, L., & Woeppel, J. (2018). Data analytics drives strategic planning in healthcare. Journal of American Health Information Management Association, 89(2), 42-3. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325944699_Data_Analytics_Drives_Strategic_Planning_in_Healthcare

Hughes Health & Rehabilitation (n.d.). Homepage. Retrieved from https://www.hugheshealth.com/

Lal, M. M. (2020). Why you need a nursing strategic plan. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 50(4), 183–184. Doi: 10.1097/NNA.00000000000008