HSERV 516 Health Services

Balancing Legal and Ethical Obligations

A health services organization serves the patient population by providing a multitude of health services in the form of medical expertise for diagnosis, treatment, and long-term care for sustained positive health outcomes. However, as much as health services organizations are a service organization providing care and health service delivery, they too must meet business bottom lines, ensure positive account balances, and adhere to healthcare policies and law. What potential challenge might healthcare administration leaders face when balancing legal, ethical, business, and service obligations of a health services organization?

While a health services organization has as its client the patient population it serves, and the medical and healthcare staff engaged in healthcare delivery, it too must respond to and work within the guidelines of the board in day to day operations. In this way, healthcare administration leaders truly engage in a juggling act to balance the needs and interests of several stakeholders while delivering health services.

For this Discussion, reflect on the role of the board in resolving internal conflict between compliance, ethical obligations, and business needs. Think about how healthcare administration leaders might balance these conflicts and potential challenges for effective health services delivery.

Post an explanation of the role of the board in resolving internal conflict between compliance, ethical obligations, and business needs. Then, describe how you, as a current or future healthcare administration leader, might address these challenges for a health services organization. Be specific and provide examples.

Hospital governance exercises authority, influences, directs and controls the delivery of healthcare services. Their principal duties are to focus on business functions like patient admissions, finance, personnel, operations and facilities. They develop and implement policies that help to focus and differentiate all responsibilities among the management, and medical staff (Tsai et al., 2015).

The board promotes detection, prevention, and resolution of actions, which do not conform to any legal or business standards. They are responsible for creating incentives that promote employee compliance. Board members have ethical obligations to excuse themselves from any action related to financial matters (Latimer, 2015). They are entitled with the responsibility of maintaining public trust by ensuring absence of personal gains from official actions. Moreover, their role is to safeguard confidential medical information.

As a health care administrative leader, I will try to maintain an inventory of the medical equipments that are used in the hospital setting. I will understand the emotional aspects of patient care, based on their specific needs, such as patients in stretchers or wheelchairs. Handling hospital resources for maximizing output will be one of my fundamental roles. I will work towards coordinating doctors, patient advocates and insurance companies, direct the flow of funds from third-party investors, and implement new policies in the hospitals (Jagosh et al., 2012).

Furthermore, I will try to prevent negligence and malpractice at work, ensure informed consent has been taken from patients and will promote public relations with the government. Thus, my future role as a hospital administrator will assist me to provide services in an equitable and sustainable manner.

References

Jagosh, J., Macaulay, A. C., Pluye, P., Salsberg, J., Bush, P. L., Henderson, J., ... & Seifer, S. D. (2012). Uncovering the benefits of participatory research: implications of a realist review for health research and practice. The Milbank Quarterly, 90(2), 311-346.

Latimer, G. E. (2015). Trustee: the basics of boards. Nursing administration quarterly, 39(1), 18-22.

Tsai, T. C., Jha, A. K., Gawande, A. A., Huckman, R. S., Bloom, N., & Sadun, R. (2015). Hospital board and management practices are strongly related to hospital performance on clinical quality metrics. Health Affairs, 34(8), 1304-1311.