Strategic Management of Healthcare: Kaiser Permanente Case Analysis

This assignment analyzes the strategic management of Kaiser Permanente, a healthcare system based in California, focusing on the impact of reducing patient wait times in the emergency department. The analysis examines the implementation of lean programs and their effect on internal factors, sustainability, and efficiency. The discussion considers the value provided to patients and the marketplace, highlighting the rareness of the organization's approach. The student explores how lean programs contribute to competitive advantage within the healthcare sector. The assignment references the case study and relevant literature to support its conclusions, emphasizing the importance of strategic management in health care organizations.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The analysis is based on a particular health care system named Kaiser Permanente
that has its origin in California. The system mainly comprises of 619 medical offices, 38
hospitals and 10.1 million members in the eight states of western US. The major
responsibility that was provided to the organization was based on the reduction of patient
wait times (Ginter, Duncan and Swayne 2018).
Extent to which value provided to patients and marketplace
The value that is provided to the patients can have an impact on the ways by which
they are provided with effective levels of services in the specified amount of time.
Rareness of the organization
The reduction of patient wait times is considered to be an important factor that is
related to the operations many modern organizations. Many health care organizations have
thereby started implementing the lean methods in order to maintain the operations in an
effective manner for a longer period of time (D’Andreamatteo et al. 2015).
Internal factors to strengthen long term sustainability
The lean programs have the ability to reduce the amount of resources that are required
for increasing the levels of sustainability of the health care organization. The reduction of
wait time of patients is considered to be an important factor that can lead to the increase in
efficiency of the organizations. The services are also provided to the patients with greater
speeds and the organizations can solve the issues within less amount of time. The reduction
of time will be able to play a major role in the development of organizational operations
(Ginter, Duncan and Swayne 2018).

2STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Conclusion
The sustainable operations of different organizations are influenced in a huge manner
by the implementation of lean programs. The health care organizations are able to gain
competitive advantage in the market with the support that is provided by the lean programs.

3STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
References
D’Andreamatteo, A., Ianni, L., Lega, F. and Sargiacomo, M., 2015. Lean in healthcare: A
comprehensive review. Health policy, 119(9), pp.1197-1209.
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J. and Swayne, L. E., 2018. Strategic Management of Health Care
Organizations (Eight Edition). Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint.