Vanguard Health Systems: Strategic Analysis and Planning Report

This report provides a strategic analysis of Vanguard Health Systems (VHS), evaluating its readiness to meet the healthcare needs of citizens in the next decade. The analysis begins with an introduction to VHS, its history, and its current operations across multiple states. The report assesses VHS's current strategic plan, highlighting issues such as debt, patient satisfaction, and workforce concerns. It then delves into specific challenges in resource management, patient satisfaction, and workforce dynamics, examining their impact on the strategic plan. The report proposes a strategic plan to address these issues, including recommendations for resource allocation, patient feedback mechanisms, and employee engagement. The analysis incorporates Michael Porter's strategic plan theory to guide the implementation of the proposed strategies. Finally, the report concludes with a summary of the key findings and recommendations, emphasizing the importance of strategic planning for VHS's long-term success in the healthcare industry. The report uses APA style and covers the health care organization's network growth, nurse staffing, resource management, and patient satisfaction.

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Vanguard Health Systems Strategic Analysis
Introduction
A firm’s capacity to cater for the needs of its consumer in the next one decade will be
based on the organization's leaders and administrator’s critical assessment on the firm’s abilities
and available resources. Due to globalization, the American demographic is changing
dramatically, effective strategic planning to cater for this demand is therefore essential in an
organization. This paper will discuss the vanguard health systems VHS strategic plan, different
issues affecting the organization and its readiness in meeting the needs of the consumers in the
next decade.
Vanguard Organization
Vanguard health system has grown significantly since its initiation. VHS was established
in 1997 by Charles Martin who still holds the role of C.E.O and chairman of VHS. The
organization has its headquarters centered in Nashville, Tennessee (Vanguard Health
Systems,2019). VHS began its operations through the purchase of a hospital in Arizona state.
With time the organization has expanded and established healthcare centers in different states in
the US, including Texas, Massachusetts, and Illinois. VHS is an investor possessed with its
primary operations being the offering of healthcare services to the diversified United States
population. VHS has approximately 36,000 employees across the different states it operates in
((Vanguard Health Systems, 2019). The organization has witnessed a strong financial stand with
approximately $8,850 million assets. VHS has experienced increases in its operating profits
which have made it an influential player in the healthcare industry.

VHS Strategic Plan
In every organization, strategic planning is essential as it aids a corporation to determine
the opportunities and the direction to take based on the resources available. VHS is recognized
due to its established business operations in the US. The organization has been centered on
growth and expansion by purchasing of various healthcare systems and hospitals, which has been
its tactical business approach since its establishment. VHS has acquired different healthcare
systems mainly in high growth areas which have contributed significantly to its growth in its
profits and overall incomes (Vanguard Health Systems,2019). The organization has been
successful in fostering growth; however, the company has numerous challenges that mainly
emanate from its resource utilization. VHS has an accumulated debt which is likely to render the
organization inefficient in response to the changing market needs.
Patient satisfaction is very critical in any healthcare organization as it contributes to the
positive or negative growth of the corporation. VHS has not managed to satisfy the needs of the
consumers attributed to the lack of proper working conditions of its staff (Cotton, 2016). VHS
employees in Arizona and Massachusetts in the recent past raised concerns on the safety of the
patients to VHS administrators. The administrators responded to the concerns by laying off
some of the nurses who raised the concerns. The nurses demonstrated in the two states which
gave the organization a negative outlook to the consumers (Cotton, 2016).VHS should make
relevant changes to ensure that its staff has the support, resources, and a conducive working
environment to offer high-quality services.
The current challenges facing VHS are likely to significantly affect its ability to remain
steadfast in the next ten years. VHS issuues include high debt, a negative public status from
consumers and the reluctance in meeting the demands of its employees. The challenges will

impact its operations in the future if the management does not make relevant changes (Cotton,
2016). Without an effective strategic plan, the challenges will have negative implications for the
organization, which will compromise its ability to meet the demands of the patients in the next
decade.
Issues in VHS And Impact on Aspects of Strategic Plan
VHS Resource Management
VHS growth is attributed to its business approach that is based on the acquisition of
healthcare institutions and integrating them into its healthcare system. The strategy has
contributed to the firm’s growth. However, the corporation's debt increase has raised concerns on
its future progress. The organization requires effective resource management approaches before
investing in further expansion; consequently VHS should ensure efficiency in its current
operations. Reducing resources from its expansion approach will limit the firm's ability to
expand. However, the strategy will ensure that VHS healthcare centers are strengthened to
withstand the numerous changes occurring in the healthcare industry (Harrison & Thompson,
2014). Through this approach, VHS should ensure all the available resources are used in its
current facilities across the US to maximize service delivery and debt reduction.
Patient Satisfaction
VHS is faced with patient satisfaction challenges which are attributed to its limited
considerations of patient’s feedback. Consumer feedback is vital as it helps in defining the areas
that require amendments within the organization (Simmons, Drake, Gaudet & Snyderman,
2016). VHS should, therefore, implement effective measures based on the needs and the
feedback of its consumers. The amendment enhances consumer satisfaction (Bircher &

Kuruvilla, 2014: De-Rosis & Barsanti, 2016). The approach should also augment the patient care
leading to the improvement of the nurses’ satisfaction in the organization.
Workforce
VHS employees have raised different issues regarding the organization’s operations and
services. The organization, therefore, requires to make relevant changes to ensure that its
resources are effectively managed (Bircher & Kuruvilla, 2014). VHS, therefore, needs to
establish a culture that incorporates the ideas of its employees and one that considers them as
equal parties in decision making (Rao & Pilot, 2014). The organization can rebuild its status by
offering better services to ensure patient satisfaction and quality enhancement which are likely to
impact its operations in the future.
Michael Porter's Strategic Plan Theory
VHS strategic plan is crucial as it will help identify the corporation's strength and
weaknesses, which can then be leveraged to meet the changing market dynamics and consumer
needs (Porter & Magretta, 2014). Using porters value chain theory, VHS can link its system and
operations to outline their impact on the profitability and expenses of the organization and derive
a practical strategic plan (Lasserre, 2017). The porter's value chain theory can be used effectively
to allocate the organization’s resources in its different operations to ensure it creates value to its
consumers (Porter & Magretta, 2014). By creating value to its consumers, the company will have
a competitive advantage which will elevate it from its competitors hence increasing its
profitability. Porter's strategic plan theory is the best as it outlines the different operations of the
organization and their impact on its profitability and efficiency.

Conclusion
VHS administrators have centered their operations in the expansion of the organization.
VHS has limited investment to improve the current activities in the already established centers
hence the need to strategize to ensure adequate services are offered in the facilities. The
organization should work towards debt reduction, incorporating the ideas of its staff and creating
of consumer-centered services. Using this approach, the organization will avert the current
challenges in preparation to meet the needs of the consumers in the next one decade.

References
Bircher, J., & Kuruvilla, S. (2014). Defining health by addressing individual, social, and
environmental determinants: new opportunities for health care and public health. Journal
of public health policy, 35(3), 363-386.
Cotton, E. (2016). Battles on the NHS Frontline: Stories from the vanguard of health and social
care.
De-Rosis, S., & Barsanti, S. (2016). Patient satisfaction, e-health, and the evolution of the
patient–general practitioner relationship: Evidence from an Italian survey. Health
Policy, 120(11), 1279-1292.
Harrison, J. S., & Thompson, S. (2014). Strategic management of healthcare organizations: A
stakeholder management approach. Business Expert Press.
Lasserre, P. (2017). Global strategic management. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Porter, M., & Magretta, J. (2014). Strategy and Competition: The Porter Collection (3 Items).
Harvard Business Review Press.
Rao, M., & Pilot, E. (2014). The missing link–the role of primary care in global health. Global
health action, 7(1), 23693.
Simmons, L. A., Drake, C. D., Gaudet, T. W., & Snyderman, R. (2016). Personalized health
planning in primary care settings. Federal Practitioner, 33(1), 27.
Vanguard Health Systems - A Leader in Long-Term Healthcare. (2019). Retrieved from
http://www.vanguardhc.com/