HIMT 310 Healthcare Systems and Organizations

Introduction:

Strategic assessment is obligatory for any organization, rather Health Service Organizations to be specific, at the time of drawing round development projects for the organizations reflecting on the situational considerations as well as the past and present strategies of the HSO. The chosen HSO for this assessment is the eminent and the leading health care organization of the United States Mayo Clinic. Despite being a non-profit medical organization this Rochester-based clinic has been the topmost health care provider in the year 2016-2017 and has been maintaining the eminence of being one of the top hospitals for 25 years ("The Mayo Effect", 2017). The strategic assessment of such a widely famed HSO would require both internal and external environmental analysis.

Analysis of Internal Environment:

Analyzing the internal environment of Mayo Clinic would need the SWOT analysis of the organization.

Analysis of External Environment:

Analysis of the external environment of Mayo Clinic can be divided into three factors:

1. Macro Environment: The major macro environmental factors working behind Mayo Clinic’s operation in the country are political, economic and technological aspects. The political factors have great impact on the clinic’s function because any change in the government visa policy directly affects the international patient inflow. Economic factor affect in the sense that in stable and good economy patients can afford to come in Mayo Clinic but when the market slows down it certainly has adverse impact. Invention in the field of treatment and the scope of its application in the chosen HSO affects its market reputation ("Strategic Goals - About Us - Mayo Clinic", 2017).
2. Micro Environment: The analysis of microenvironment focuses on the overall health care industry. Despite its peak position in the present industry market, it has been facing tough competition and challenges from its competitors.
3. Operating Environment: Some of the best physicians, excellent and efficient workforce, best quality in house research possibility and above all an organizational heart keep it much ahead of the rest ("Mayo Clinic CFI | What We Do", 2017).

1: Situational Analysis Considerations

The situational analysis of Mayo Clinic involves its present market position and the demand of its service among the consumers. A list of situational analysis considerations relevant to Mayo Clinic is to be derived from the key points of internal and external environmental analysis.

• Unique and authentic research work should be concentrated on.
• Concentration on quality service providing.
• Maintaining the Integrated Medical Record System of the patients ("Genomics in patient care - For Medical Professionals - Mayo Clinic", 2014)
• Improving the ambulatory care system and recovering the ambulatory care position from below average.
• Synthesizing diverse workforce with greater diversity synergy.
• High quality research work along with availability of topmost physicians.
• One of the most preferred health care destinations of America.
• Affiliations done with other hospitals for expansions.
• Modification required on the system of salary-based compensation.
• Ensuring the application of latest medication theories and technologies.
• Making the organization service flexible with the market economy so that in every situation customers are able to afford the premium quality treatment.
• Concentrating on gaining competitive advantage over other competitors in the health care industry.

2: Describing the Past and Present Organizational Strategies

Mayo Clinic is the world’s first and probably the biggest integrated non-profit health service group. It has changed its organization strategy over the years in order to reach the zenith. This section reviews the past and present strategies of Mayo Clinic.

The clinic started its journey back in 1880s with a noble cause of serving victims of tornado in Rochester. However, initially the clinic was for private practice of the Mayo brothers but after the death of W.W Mayo, the present model of integrated practice has developed. In its initial years, the organization did not have the present structure of desegregated group medical practice. During the opening years of the past century, the organization had rather a paternalistic nature. In addition, the hospital service and facilities like specific floors or sections were segregated by race and gender. Previously, the clinic had the patient inflow of a limited demography because Mayo Clinic had not established itself as a global health care destination until then. Therefore, the service providing strategies were specifically for the Americans and since the workforce was less diverse, the HRM was less complicated.

The present organization strategy is in stark contrast with the some of the earlier ones. The previous authoritative organizational culture entirely centers on patient-empowerment at present. In addition, Mayo Clinic aims to become the most reliable yet affordable organization in the US among other HSO (Frey et al, 2017).In line with modern health care models, the clinic targets to transform the health care system enabling different models of care such as integrated model, model of value-added process, models related to community health and the like. Besides, Mayo Clinic strives to achieve a universal global strategy in order to match bolster its international presence while collaborating with several other reputed hospitals for expansion.

3: The Context of These Strategic Choices

Due to the rapidly improving medical science and technology as well as the impact of globalization, the leading health care organization has had several alterations in their strategies. With the rising number of international patients in the customer demography, they had to take up a global outlook while adopting any policy ("Case Study: Mayo Clinic | ASQ", 2012). Besides, they have realized the need for expansion with rising demand and hence, have gone for affiliations with other hospitals. In addition, the rapid advancement in medical science has compelled the organization to maintain a high quality research team for implementing innovations in treatment.

Conclusion: 

Thus, in order to obtain the desired outcomes Mayo Clinic has implemented some particular strategies by conducting a strategic assessment of its internal and external environment conditions. The situational analysis done shows the reasons why this clinic is at the superior position for the past few decades. Looking at the analysis it can be concluded that Mayo Clinic has successfully modified its strategies with time and necessity and this is how this HSO has surpassed all others in terms of service reputation.  

References:

Case Study: Mayo Clinic | ASQ. (2012). Asq.org. Retrieved 20 March 2017, from https://asq.org/quality-resources/case-studies-mayo-clinic

Frey, MD, K., Cranmer, J., J. Kirby, L., H. Lenko, P., & Z. Vrabel, A. (2017). The Development and Implementation of a Strategic and Tactical Planning Framework at Mayo Clinic Arizona. Retrieved 20 March 2017, from https://rdcms-himss.s3.amazonaws.com/files/production/public/HIMSSorg/Content/files/jhim/19-3/mayo.pdf

Genomics in patient care - For Medical Professionals - Mayo Clinic. (2014). Mayoclinic.org. Retrieved 20 March 2017, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/clinical-updates/cancer/genomics-patient-care

Mayo Clinic CFI | What We Do. (2017). Centerforinnovation.mayo.edu. Retrieved 20 March 2017, from http://centerforinnovation.mayo.edu/what-we-do/

Moser, J. C., Pulido, J. S., Dronca, R. S., McWilliams, R. R., Markovic, S. N., & Mansfield, A. S. (2015). The Mayo Clinic experience with the use of kinase inhibitors, ipilimumab, bevacizumab, and local therapies in the treatment of metastatic uveal melanoma. Melanoma research, 25(1), 59-63.

Rothaermel, F. T. (2015). Strategic management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Strategic Goals - About Us - Mayo Clinic. (2017). Mayoclinic.org. Retrieved 20 March 2017, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/about-mayo-clinic/office-diversity-inclusion/about/strategic-goals

The Mayo Effect. (2017). Retrieved 20 March 2017, from https://edtechperformanceprojectgroup3.wikispaces.com/file/view/2010-strategicplan-refresh%5B1%5D.pdf