United Healthcare Organization
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Assignment :Health Organization Case Study
Research a health care organization or a network that spans several states within the U.S. (Example: United Healthcare, Vanguard, Banner Healthcare, etc.).
Harvard Business Review Online and Hoover’s Company Records, found in the GCU Library, are useful sources. You may also find pertinent information on your organization’s webpage.
Review “Singapore Airlines Case Study.”
Prepare a 1,000-1,250-word paper that focuses on the organization or network you have selected.
Your essay should assess the readiness of the health care organization or network in addressing the health care needs of citizens in the next decade, and include a strategic plan that addresses issues pertaining to network growth, nurse staffing, resource management, and patient satisfaction.
Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a grading rubric. Instructors will be using the rubric to grade the assignment; therefore, students should review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the assignment criteria and expectations for successful completion of the assignment.
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SAMPLE ANSWER
United Healthcare Organization
The United Healthcare Organization is a nonprofit making organization, which traces its roots in the early 1977, when Dr. Paul Ellwood, a health professional, and Richard Burke founded the company. It all started in the 1960s when it used to be called the Health Maintenance Organization until 1977, when the two decided to change its name to United HealthCare Corporation. Its core agenda by that time was to help people live healthier lives and create innovative thinking in provision of better healthcare services. The business was based on the use of the recommended medical practices in healthcare and the use of management skills in better service provision to patients while strengthening the health care system. By the early 1990s, the organization had grown and registered numerous members (Strang 1997, p. 166)
Growth
Together, the United Healthcare and its partner Optum serve more than 85 million people worldwide with more than 160,000 workers in all the 50 states of the United States and more than 125 other countries (UnitedHealth group, 2014, p.3). Since the organization started, it has grown so big and has diversified the provision of its services. It now runs a series of healthcare groups such as the Optum, United Healthcare Children Foundation, and United Health Foundation. In order to increase the number of health service providers, the organization has opened up a series of nursing schools to provide nursing training to students so that it can increase the number of healthcare service providers. One such school is the Park Lane Elementary School in Philadelphia. The services that they are providing have been greatly advanced form simple medical service delivery to the more complex surgery delivery services.
The use of online forums in managing its growth has been very effective. The use of online management has also led to delivery of quality services to the patients at their own comfort. The patients can get advisory services at the online platforms
Management
The organization is managed in such a way that it has branches all over the country with distinct administrators. It has its headquarters at Minnesota and the president of the United Health Group organizations heads it. All the other administrators at the various branches around the country report to the headquarters (Strang, 1997).
As said earlier, the organization is a not-for-profit, which basically runs on member contributions and donor funding. The money is also collected through the membership subscription fee through the use of the healthcare insurance scheme where the members are taxed. It is collected from the various branches and then its use is managed at the headquarters. Here, any money that is required for spending is sent to the specific branch after approval by the necessary budgetary authorities (United Health group, 2014, p. 6-7).
Nurse staffing
The organization entirely runs on donor funding and contributions from the local societies in America. The employment of staff workers ranges from nurses to physicians, and doctors. The health care centers are located in every part of the United States. The employees sacrifice their time in order to ensure proper and quality service delivery to the patients.
According to Spetz et al. (2013), they observed that United Health Groups Center for Nursing Advancement has been in the forefront encouraging the nurse practitioners to engage in higher licensed programs so that they can practice with full authority. A report carried out by the center identified that nurse practitioners practicing in retail clinics have a very high potential to deliver quality services to patients. The study recommended that scope of practice by the qualified and trained nurses should go beyond what it is at now. The Health Group has carried out several researches in the healthcare system for America, which help equip the nurses with the right knowledge that they need in dealing with their patients. The organization has also organized several nurse-training conferences in which the nurses are given training on the current trends in the healthcare service provision. Through such forums, the nurses are able to acquire knowledge that helps them improve their skills in the healthcare system.
Advancements in Service Provision and Patient Satisfaction
The world of today is moving towards the era where people shall be accessing services at the comfort of their home without much manual work. In the year 2011, the United Health Center for Health Reform & Modernization in collaboration with YMCA launched the JOIN for ME Initiative. This was designed to engage young overweight kids between the age of 6 and 17 in an evidence-based program to achieve a healthier weight through a reduction of calories and TV and computer time screens. The initiative was also to encourage enough sleep and physical activity as one of the strategies of reducing weight. In the same year, the organization also invented hi-tech, lower cost hearing devices for the 36 million Americans with hearing loss. The initiative also included new testing in order to identify those who had developed the hearing problem (United Health group, 2014)
In the year 2012, the organization launched My Healthcare Cost Estimator, an online resource that provides a comprehensive analysis of costs of over 116 diseases and gives the comparison from various service providers. This helps the citizens in making informed decisions on their medication cost based on the different healthcare providers.
In 2013, the organization launched the Easy Book, an online healthcare shopping in which customers can book appointments online and pay upfront for quality care, often at discounted rates. In the same year, the Optum in collaboration with the United Healthcare group, launched a Diabetes Prevention Programme (DPP). The programme was run all over America encouraging change of lifestyle as a way of dealing with the diabetes problem among the millions of Americans in a convenient way. In addition, they launched the Optum 360, a new strategy to simplify patient billing and enhance transparency in the cost of medication of the patients by the various health service providers. The system also incorporates a technique, which enhances progressive delivery revenue management, and medical record documentation services to large hospitals and health systems.
This year, the organization has launched the Optum One, which is an analytics platform that helps the professional healthcare providers engage the patients, coordinate the patient care services, and improve health outcomes. The care providers can analyze and take direct action on conclusions deducted from data Optum One extracts from personal medical records and provides an avenue of claims.
Conclusion
The United Healthcare Organization is one of the very vibrant healthcare organizations in the whole of America whose service provision is aimed at satisfying its customers. Provided the organization advances technologically, new inventions will see it through its continuous growth and survival in the next decade.
References
Health Leaders Media, 2012. Grow your own nurse leaders. Retrieved from http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/NursingAdvancement/Default.aspx
Spetz, J., Parente, S., Town, R. & Barzako, D., 2013. Nurses Practicing Independently in Retail Clinics Deliver Significant Cost Savings for Many Common Conditions. Retrieved from http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/Nursing%20Advancement/Default.aspx
Strang, D. 1997. Health maintenance organizations. pp 165-179. New York, free press.http://www.soc.cornell.edu/faculty/strang/articles/Health%20Maintenance%20Orga nizations.pdf
United Health Group, 2014. United Health Group facts 2014 q2. Minnetonka, Minnesota 5534. Retrieved from http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/~/media/UHG/PDF/About/UNH
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