Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Banner Health Network is an American non-profit health system that focuses on providing emergency and hospital care, outpatient surgery, laboratory services, long-term/home care, primary care, hospice, pharmacies, and rehabilitation services to the public. In addition, the organization has a Medicare Advantage insurance plan known as University Care Advantage as well as the Banner University Family Care, which is an AHCCCS plan (Plunkett, 2017). Established in 1999 through the merger of Lutheran Health Systems and Samaritan Health Systems, Banner Health is among the largest healthcare providers in the country, with 30 hospitals and several other specialized health facilities (Banner Health, 2021). These facilities are located across the six states of Arizona, Colorado, California, Nevada, Nebraska, and Wyoming. In addition, the organization has over 50,000 employees and is the largest employer in the state of Arizona (Banner Health, 2021). All these statistics indicate the large size of the organization in the public healthcare sector.
Banner Health’s Readiness to Meet Healthcare Needs
Since its inception in 1999, Banner Health Network has experienced steady growth and continues to expand its number of outlets in the country. The idea is to increase the organizational ability to serve a large number of people. Banner Health has a mission that seeks to provide high-quality care, which guides its operation (Banner Health, 2021). Furthermore, the organization has established an effective training program for nurses, technicians, physicians, and other professionals as a means of maintaining the best possible standards. This program focuses on providing training on the application of technologies in healthcare to improve patient outcomes. After training, the organization evaluates the staff for skills assessment across a number of treatment settings. The rationale is to ensure that each facility has the best skills and knowledge in addition to technology, all of which are the aspects that drive any healthcare organization. These features ensure that the organization is ready to meet the healthcare needs of the population even during such situations as the Covid-19 Pandemic (Banner Health, 2021). In addition, a large number of institutions under the organization and the effective technologies and trained staff located at each section implies that the organization is always ready to meet the healthcare needs of the population it serves.
Strategic Plan for Banner Health to Address Issues and Challenges
Network Growth
Banner Health has established a strategic plan that focuses on patient satisfaction, strategic growth, staffing, and resource management. With an increasing population that is also aging, the number of healthcare issues and needs is also rising, which necessitates organizations like Banner Health to establish new facilities and outlets to respond to the current and future health needs (Banner Health, 2021). In addition, the strategic plan seeks to ensure that the patients have access to effective medical care centers and proper care that is also affordable.
Staffing
Banner Health recognizes the need for the best possible staffing methods and staffing ratios. The organization has adopted a staffing approach that seeks to boost patient outcomes at all times. Specifically, nurses and physicians are considered the backbone of the institution. Therefore, the institution makes sure that it has the right practitioner-patient ratio to prevent burnout and other negative effects on the staff members. As previously stated, the organization has an effective employee training program where interprofessional members achieve the best possible skills and knowledge on how to use technologies and evidence-based practice for enhanced patient outcomes (Mthiyane & Habedi, 2018). This program ensures that the interprofessional members are up-to-date with the current and latest evidence-based practices and technologies in the healthcare sector.
Management of Human Resources
Banner Health Network consists of a large number of institutions or branches designed to meet the healthcare needs of the population. Each of these institutions has a manager whose function is to oversee the smooth running of services. The office of the branch manager oversees the processes of recruitment and hiring the best employees in the healthcare sector. In this way, the local needs of the population are addressed based using skills and knowledge focusing on the specific group of patients. Managers also have the responsibility of acting as leaders and role models within their facilities. The idea is to ensure employee accountability, which is also aligned with the framework of the entire organization. It is also important to note that the organization has established an effective metric system that evaluates the success and accountability of every facility. Specifically, the metrics are patient satisfaction and experiences, where scorecards are applied to ensure that every staff member is accountable to individual services provided to the clients (Sibiya et al., 2018). Therefore, it is the role of the managers to guide and provide all the necessary resources and motivate the employees in their facilities.
Patient Satisfaction
Banner Health seeks to develop excellent patient care through quality outcomes as well as patient safety at all times. Good patient outcomes, high-quality care, and a guarantee of patient safety help boost patient satisfaction. Such technologies as electrocardiography (EEG) and others are applied to monitor heart rates of patients, fetal heart rates and changes and the status of pregnancy during and after pregnancy (Banner Health, 2021). Other technologies are applied across the facilities to meet the increasing patient needs such as management and treatment of such diseases as cancer, diabetes, cardiac issues, arthritis, and others among the aging population. In the wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the organization increased and expanded its services to meet the urgent needs created by the situation, including additional bed capacities, staff, ambulance, and technologies across all the facilities.
Current and Potential Issues within the Organizational Culture
Banner Health’s organizational culture is primarily based on innovation and technological application in meeting the increasing health needs of the population. The organization has been investing heavily in HIT, telemedicine, and other solutions while also boosting innovation and the development of new ideas for the enhancement of patient outcomes and satisfaction. Nevertheless, the heavy implementation and application of technologies may reduce interactions between the staff members, which can affect communication and interprofessional approach (Sibiya et al., 2018). After training, employees are expected to work on their own with minimal interactions, which can affect teamwork and collaboration. Secondly, the organization should focus on training its employees to ensure that they have knowledge and skills related to cultural competency. Because the population is increasingly becoming diverse in terms of sexual orientation, language, religious, ethnic, and racial backgrounds, employees should have the appropriate skills to handle various patients differently to ensure that they are satisfied.
Proposed Model/Theory for Supporting the Strategic Plan
The best model to support the implementation of the strategic plan for Banner Health is a goal-based strategic planning approach as it focuses on the primary challenges and opportunities an organization faces at a given time (Elwyn & Vermunt, 2020). This model begins with a view of the organizational mission, vision, and core values before evaluating all the strengths and weaknesses in that organization. After the evaluation, an action plan is developed and designed to meet each goal while also addressing the identified weaknesses and perfecting the strengths.
References
Banner Health. (2021). Banner Health. Web.
Elwyn, G., & Vermunt, N. P. C. A. (2020). Goal-Based shared decision-making: developing an integrated model. Journal of Patient Experience, 7(5), 688-696. Web.
Mthiyane, G. N., & Habedi, D. S. (2018). The experiences of nurse educators in implementing evidence-based practice in teaching and learning. Health SA = SA Gesondheid, 23, 1177. Web.
Plunkett, J. (2017). Plunkett’s Health Care Industry Almanac 2018: Health Care Industry market research, statistics, trends and leading companies. Plunkett Research.
Sibiya, M. N., Ngxongo, T., & Beepat, S. Y. (2018). The influence of peer mentoring on critical care nursing students’ learning outcomes. International Journal of Workplace Health Management, 11(3), 130–142. Web.