Case Hospital
This case study’s focus is how to manage change so that those who are embracing change do so without much resistance. One of the models that have been created to manage change is called ADKAR model. ADKAR is an abbreviation for those things which need to be done to have successful change: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. Managers of an institution need to let the affected persons their intention to make changes and the kind of change they are planning to do. The timing for the change should also be monitored such that change happens when people are prepared and are longing for it.
According to the case study, it is obvious that the hospital in Louisiana made a radical decision too early. In the context of management, it is hard to imagine that such a big decision was approved very fast. Due to the fact that the facility is essential for the rural area and for people, who live there, it was necessary to discuss the question with customers of the hospital. They are better placed to know whether the planned change would be of benefit to them or not.
First of all, during the preparation and discussions stage, the customers and the hospital’s employees should have been made to understand benefits that would be experienced with the new program. The hospital did this and it received data, which indicated significant benefits for both the hospital and patients. The heads of the facility instantly started the implementation of a new strategy in order to receive the benefits as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, the hospital was confronted with a lot of resistance from the patients.
Secondly, when the predictions are received it was important to discuss the opportunity with the people in the county, or with the representatives of these people. After understanding the preferences of the patients and their ability to pay for the plan, the hospital could go ahead and establish a plan. Sometimes the best plan might have needed a compromise from both sides so that they accommodate each other. In other words, it was possible for the hospital to listen to the opinion of people and to implement the strategy, which could satisfy both parties.
Thirdly, the patients also need to know about the possible benefits from the program and about the disadvantages of the new policy. In other words, the hospital needed to organize a meeting with the targeted persons. The meeting would help the patients to not only understand the procedure and the new plan, but also to have an opportunity to ask questions about the plan to improve their understanding of it. Taking into consideration a complicated financial state of the medical sphere in the country due to the economic issues, people need to know how the new policy would affect them. We therefore see that this matter was very sensitive and needed to be handled with lots of concern for the welfare of the people.
Additionally, the hospital also might conduct a sociological research as a test or an interview in order to understand the preferences of the patients. An estimate of the time period needed to implement the new policy should have also been given. Clearly, the change which was being proposed was going to increase the hospital revenue, hence better maintenance of the hospital, better doctors and nurses employed and better hospital facilities put in place for better health care of the patients. If only the right stages of change management were followed then the result would have been positive.
Not engaging the collection agencies in the preparations of change could easily bring about friction and unhealthy relationship with them. The health workers were an important part of the change and also needed to be consulted before critical decisions concerning the change were made. The CEO and CFO were responsible for making available the information needed by the various groups to deal with the change in policy.
The management needed also to understand how people react to change. This takes different forms which are shock, refusal, rational understanding, emotional acceptance, exercising, realization and acceptance. The process shows that in as much as customers may experience shock when they hear about change, in the end they accept it. So it is the responsibility of those effecting the change to allow the people involved to go through the cycle so that change is successful. This is to say that the resistance which was experienced in West Feliciana Parish in Louisiana due the newly introduced charity care policy could have been avoided by doing things right. Also by being mindful of the people who would be directly and indirectly affected as people are important in any organization. Moreover, those financial benefits which they looked forward to could only be gained through having customers coming in for treatment and not lose them to neighboring hospitals.
In conclusion, it is agreed that the change was necessary and important for the hospital in Louisiana. The only problem which needed to be looked into was the process of carrying out the change.