Basis for strategic management at healthcare enterprises

Abstract

Provision of healthcare is the responsibility of every government to assure the health of its most valuable asset, people. Advancement in healthcare includes the development of new diagnostic procedures, new techniques, new equipments, and new drugs. These techniques are developed to diagnose diseases faster at an early stage before the disease is fully developed, shorten lengthy procedures allowing shorter hospital stays and create new drugs that combat illness in more efficient way with fewer side effects. The practice of medicine is being revolutionalized by these techniques, however, these techniques are a result of serious research i.e. they cost money to develop and therefore, the saving achieved by these techniques is eaten by the cost of the high technology. The great development in healthcare is also matched by the development of new standards of care, which is updated annually to match the changes in the healthcare system. The Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is updating its standards of healthcare provision almost annually. To comply with these standards hospitals have to carry on mass changes that cost a lot of money, another cost factor that is not accounted for while planning the budget for a healthcare organization.