Healthcare Management

This report discusses the key elements of healthcare management in St. John of God-Health care, including political environment, organizational design, leadership style, financial resource utilization, and technology implementation.

Healthcare Management
Healthcare Management

Running Head: Healthcare Management
Executive summary
The mainstream points of healthcare management are discussed in this report for an Australia-
based health care organization, St. John of God-Health care. This study further includes political
framework, organizational design, policy environment, collaborating nature of teamwork,
leadership style, effective allocation of financial resources, and utilization of technology in the
organizational framework.
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Contents
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................1
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Political and policy environment.....................................................................................................5
Leadership and teamwork................................................................................................................8
Financial resource utilization.........................................................................................................10
Utilization of allocated donations..............................................................................................10
Year wise comparative financial structure analysis on fundraising activities and community
services......................................................................................................................................12
The implication of technological advancements...........................................................................14
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................17
References......................................................................................................................................18
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Running Head: Healthcare Management
Introduction
Health organizations play a crucial role in the economic and social vitality worldwide in terms of
providing physical and mental health care services, employment and social orientation. The basic
indicators of economic development are also measured by the medical sector of a country. This
assessment aims to discuss the fundamental elements of a health care organization. The
organizational infrastructure, effective leadership style, the stability of financial services, the
implication of technological advancement and political environment are the major parts of any
health care organization’s framework. The healthcare institutions are mainly driven by the
administrator and hospital managers. Technological advancements and digitalization have
influenced the hospital sectors to go through rapid transformation, change strategic decisions and
adapt to the changing environment. Hospitals are evolving with time to provide quality health
care services to the patients and implicating business expertise to attain economic growth.
In this assignment organizational environment of St. John of God-Health care has been discussed
from the perspectives of a health care manager for identifying and interpreting the possible ways
to enhance the operational effectiveness of the organization.
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Mission, vision, and objectives
St. John of God-Health care is an Australia-based health care organization that was established in
1895 under the ministry of the Catholic Church and has been maintaining its voluntary services
across Asia Pacific region, Australia and New Zealand (Sjog, 2019). The health care
organization offers voluntary mental health, medical, maternity, surgical, rehabilitation, home
nursing, social orientation facilities, and disability services toward the community. Under the
umbrella of St John of God Health Care organization, there are around 24 hospitals that offer
voluntary health care services for physiologically and mentally disabled persons irrespective of
age, gender, race, class and nationality.
Mission: St. John of God-Health care foundation is committed to offering consistent voluntary
service in the name of Jesus Christ by enhancing the quality of life in terms of social, emotional,
physical, spiritual and intellectual dimensions.
Vision: To maintain the rational institutional framework, the organization fosters the healing
touch of Jesus Christ into their work ethics and wants people to understand the importance of
fullness and richness of their lives.
Values: St. John of God-Health care foundation values hospitality, compassion, optimum
standard excellence, respect and justification (Sjog, 2019).
Symbol: The organization has chosen the pomegranate symbol that represents inner generosity,
altruistic approach, heritage and culture of Christianity.
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Political and policy environment
Understanding of political environment is important for interpreting the important social
determinants of health care services (Kim et al. 2016). The economic development of public
health can be better understood with the reconceptualization of healthcare (Auer et al. 2014). The
policy implications, health care objectives, and professional objectives are different in private
health organization, governmental organizations and non-profit hospitals. In such a case, all
relevant entities of health care organizations have to collaborate with each other for addressing
multi-dimensioned social factors and achieving organizational as well as professional growth
(Seys et al. 2013). The organization has become Australia’s largest non-profit health care
organization and around 13,950 caregivers (Sjog, 2019). Health disparities in terms of the multi-
faceted social environment, government policies that are implemented by the government
officials and agents have played a crucial role in St. John of God Foundation (Egener et al.
2017). Moreover, the organization has maintained a stable reciprocation to produce effective
public actions and health policy (Popesko, 2013).
The effective and standardized legal framework at the community level is important for
operating and communicating with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), bilateral donors,
domestic as well as international organizations. Being a philanthropic organization, St. John of
God Foundation has implemented ethical behaviour and philanthropic model in case of public
health care services. To sustain in public-private partnerships with political actors’ altruistic
thought process is important (Bartram and Dowling, 2013). To understand the organizational
approach of St. John of God Foundation proper analysis and demonstration of health-related
policy, the legal code of conduct and regulations is beneficiary in such context (Toussaint and
Berry, 2013).
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Organizational design and coordination
In the organizational context of St. John of God Foundation implementation of stewardship has
played a crucial role in terms of market expansion, revenue growth, depreciation, and
amortization percentage. As stated by the official executives of the foundation their total revenue
grew by 1.2%, in between the financial year 2017-18. This statistical data reflects their lack of
concentration in the financial framework. If compared with private health care organizations in
terms of revenue growth, market activity, and market expansion, the hospitals under St. John of
God organization have not seen much growth recently over the past few years.
Figure 1: Graphical representation of expenditure on community services and social justice
initiatives
(Source: Sjog, 2019)
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The organization follows the transformational leadership style but lack of interest in monetary
growth, lack of technological enhancement and severe challenges in terms of maintaining the
quality standards of palliative-supportive health care services have lowered the economic
progress of the organization (Reader and Gillespie, 2013). As reported by St. John of God
organization year on year basis EBITDA was critically low this financial year 2017-18 and
finally stopped at $116 million (Sjog.org.au. 2019). Low EBITDA score means activity wise this
has been a challenging year for them in terms of market capitalization, expansion and revenue
growth. St. John of God Foundation has experienced such depreciation because of lack of
planning and collaboration among the major stakeholders that have increased monetary profit
structure across the private hospital sector (Popesko, 2013)
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Figure 2: Graphical representation of demographical position wise operational revenue
(Source: Sjog, 2019)
Besides St John of God organization offers aboriginal perinatal health care and Raphael Services
to accommodate and train the patients to overcome difficulties. Other than that each hospital
under the mother organization has such service initiatives like Casa Venegas, Pomegranate
Community Mental Health Service Horizon House Program, Glenrye Centre and Ferns
Community Mental Health Service etc. that serves for the betterment of the society.
Leadership and teamwork
Managerial skills to manage teams, progressive vision of leaders and understanding of
operational hindrances are important for attaining sustainable growth whole fulfilling the
organizational objectives (De Bono, Heling and Borg, 2014). Guided under Dr Michael
Stanford’s leadership, St. John of God Foundation has successfully implicated constitutional
values and moral ethos to sustain in this challenging social environment. The health care
organization has implicated effective team management strategies that can help them to fulfil the
organizational goals. For instance, this organization has implemented such leadership skills
regarding change of strategic decisions to provide better solutions to the entire community.
Visionary and progressive leadership skills have helped St John of God Health Care foundation
to attain several recognitions like $200,000 grant was given to the organization for their social
orientation programs by the Australian Digital Health Agency. This monetary value has the
organization to provide and arrange educational programs for post-discharge patients. The
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Running Head: Healthcare Management
organization has in fact partnered with a local organization that specializes in patient behavior
and post-discharge education (Terzic-Supic et al. 2015). Additionally, the organization has
focused on embedding compassionate care to provide healthcare services to the clients and
patients beyond the medical and clinical experience. Modification of medical facilities is also
considered by the organizational leaders and Board of Trustees of St John of God Health Care
foundation to cope up with the changing health care sector. Implementation of revamped person-
centered care has taken first place in the healthcare needs in health care organizations across the
globe.
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Financial resource utilization
Being a non-profit organization, St. John of God Foundation financial performance and market
capitalization are not their paramount objectives (Sjog.org.au. 2019). Group CEO, Dr Shane
Kelly has mentioned that careful cost management, proper utilization of the donations and
financial stewardship are important for operating efficiently in a challenging environment. As
mentioned in the Annual report of St. John of God Foundation, in the last financial year the
organization gained around $1.89 million in donations and $1.5 million in terms of pawn value.
Utilization of allocated donations
Sl. Fundraising attributes Total collection of monetary value
1 Expanded Hospital Services $817,364
2 General Donations $75,965
3 Social entrench $42,426
4 Training programs &Education $25,000
5 Health and Medical research programs $617,995
6 Equipment $261,666
7 Other Services $22,365
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Additionally, the health care organization has organized several fundraising programs that have
helped the organization to restructure its financial framework with great financial support
(Lakbala and Lakbala, 2013). On the basis of the amount that is donated by voluntary donors, the
foundation has segregated into visionaries, innovators, leaders, community, and champions
(Elarabi and Johari, 2014). Multi-national business corporations to local small-mid level
enterprises have also provided financial support to the welfare of community services (Shepard
et al. 2013).
Figure 3: Table on the comprehensive financial income
Source: (Sjog, 2019)
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Figure 4: Table on the comprehensive financial position
(Source: Sjog, 2019)
Year wise comparative financial structure analysis on fundraising activities and
community services
Total funds
administered
FY 2017-18
Contributions
toward social
justice
initiatives
FY 2016-17
Total funds
administered
FY 2017-18
Contributions
toward social
justice
initiatives
FY 2016-17
Investments
toward
community
1,087,094 948,751 1,052,962 877,877
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responsibilities
Concessions on
Patients
516,587 387,225 516,584 387,225
Funds for care
giving
respondents
86,664 195,975 86,664 195,975
Social orientation
programs across
Australia, New
Zealand, and Asia
region
69,347,800 64,446,790 18,862,224 19,766,625
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The implication of technological advancements
In the era of the 21st-century organizations have gone through a rapid transformation and
technological advancements have helped them to reshape their organizational framework
(Byrkjeflot and Kragh Jespersen, 2014). Eva Skira, the Chairman of Trustees in St. John of God
Foundation has mentioned that the organization has implicated clinical expertise and advanced
research works towards offering better voluntary services to the community. Subsidiaries of the
organization have posed great interest in recent medical advancement, for instance, research
works on breast cancer St John of God Subiaco Hospital has prioritized palliative-supportive
care, translational health services and clinical trials of new treatments (Liu, Wu and Li, 2013).
Moreover, the Project of St John of God-Accord has developed technology-driven five-bedrooms
that can provide quality services to individuals with complex intellectual disability (Turan and
Palvia, 2014). Group CEO, Dr. Shane Kelly has referred that new operating and recruiting
model, draft digital strategy has been developed by the research and development team. This
draft digital strategy has been implemented to attain significant goals like updating of digital
capabilities, strong patient privacy data management, and cybersecurity. In 2017-18 the
organization has invested enough money to secure the transactional network among its hospitals.
Previously St. John of God Murdoch Hospital has implemented the first Clinical Command
Centre (CCC) at their organizational framework. Additionally, the second Clinical Command
Centre (CCC) has been implemented at St John of God Subiaco Hospital. In fact, the
organization has proposed several plans to implement this service and facilities in the future in
the other St John of God Health Care hospitals. As of current data, St John of God Foundation
has launched Doctor Connect- the mobile application which is an effective tool for offering
secure mobile access to significant patient information and store data using mobile devices. This
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has enabled them to take and imply effective timely clinical decision and modify data from
anywhere and anytime (Sfantou et al. 2017).
First Clinical Command Centre (CCC) at St John of God Murdoch Hospital, a second CCC was
implemented at St John of God Subiaco Hospital and there are plans to leverage the insights and
lessons at other St John of God Health Care hospitals in the future.
The team members of the organization have been communicating with local companies,
supporting their communities, building prioritized value framework, and alleviating ways to
resolve long-term poverty issues. As stated before the organization has tied up with the local
firm, MEDVR that provides them to develop diagnostic imaging into a 3D model.
The research and development team of St John of God Foundation has helped them to develop a
virtual reality tool, SMILEYSCOPE goggles. SMILEYSCOPE goggles are effective stress-
relieving tools that help children to come around by alleviating stress level.
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Recommendations
After studying and reviewing the basic organizational framework of St. John of God Foundation
it can be understood that the organization must concentrate on implicating recent technological
changes to elevate the operational effectiveness (Khadka, Gurung and Chaulagain, 2014).
Additionally, Group CEO, Dr. Shane Kelly has mentioned that safety performance improvement
has enhanced their operational cycle in terms of cybersecurity, transactional safety and privacy
of patient’s data. Moreover, strong and effective network among the major stakeholders like
Trustees, Board, donors, volunteers, palliative-supportive caregivers, specialists and donors over
the virtual media and social platform would strengthen the communication network and would
help them to offer better services to the patients worldwide (Kirkpatrick et al. 2013). In their
annual report, the Group CEO referred that they are aimed to attain zero harm at work. With the
implementation of OHS strategy, the organization would be able to move into the last year of the
five-year planning cycle of 2015-2019.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, this assessment on health care management has been useful to evaluate and
identify the fundamental elements of health care organizations. From the practical perspectives
of a health care manager, the political framework, policy implication, stewardship, coordination
among the major stakeholders, allocation of financial resources and adaptation with the
technological advancements are critically discussed in the context of St. John of God-Health care
organization. Moreover, this assignment has been helpful for understanding how health care
organizations implicate policies, formulate values while maintaining ethical behavior in the
organizational environment, regulate health care agendas and communicate with patients in the
local, national and international levels. As understood from the strategic framework of the
organization it can be perceived that the organizations might get isolated and disconnected by the
lack of knowledge on hospital management.
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