discussion reply 138

Addressing an Unmet Need Through Strategic Planning

Addressing an unmet need is essential in keeping an organization current in providing the services that are needed to deliver patient care. Before developing a strategic plan, there must be an unmet need identified in the organization that need to be addressed. A strategic analysis is performed to look at the various strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats regarding the organization also known as a SWOT analysis (Authenticity Counseling, 2013). After the need has been identified, there must be data to support that this project would be beneficial to the organization. Identifying stakeholders and individuals to help pilot the project will influence how well or successful the project can be. A few of the stakeholders I have identified to support the need would be the doctors, insurance companies, medical supply companies, and individuals who have stock in the company.

A strategic plan serves as a framework to explain the business to others in order to inform, motivate, involve, and as a framework for decisions or for securing support/approval from stakeholders (PlanWare, 2013). In my organization, I have identified a need to open a residential unit that can house up to 24 adolescents. This need has been identified thorough an analysis of how many children we deny daily that require long term treatment. My organization provides acute care treatment that last for 3 to 7 days on end, to adolescents ages 13-17 who are experiencing a mental health crisis. Some kids are cleared to leave at the end of the seventh day, but most are not. However, this creates an issue with insurance companies who are unwilling to pay for a prolonged stay.

The data supports that we deny about 4 patients per day at about 1,500/day. This unmet need has caused the organization to lose thousands of dollars per day. I have observed patients that have not been able to find placement in long-term facilities due to lack of beds and this causes unwanted stress on the patient and parents. I believe if my organization is able to accommodate this new unit, this would open additional resources in the community and prevent the organization from losing thousands of dollars on each encounter. This is the unmet need I have identified for my course project and I have analyzed the data that supports the need to ensure this need is addressed. With a new residential unit that houses up to 24 adolescents, we will be able provide the necessary treatment. Research suggest that developing and focusing on our mission statement will inspire other members of the team and stakeholders to invest additional time and effort into creating and implementing the new plan (Cook, 2017).

References

Authenticity Counseling. (2013). Basic description of strategic planning. Retrieved March

13,2013, from https://managementhelp.org/strategicplanning/basics.htm

Cook, H. J. (2017). A Community of Collaboration. Principal Leadership, 17(5), 50–53.

PlanWare. (2013). Business planning papers: Developing a strategic plan. Retrieved March 13,

2013, from https://www.planware.org/strategicplan.htm