Week 5 – Assignment: Identify Strategies to Address Loss of Market Advantage

You were recently hired by Hospital G to fill the vacancy of a long-term chief executive officer (CEO) who retired. In a meeting with your new executive leadership team to review the results of the HCAHPS survey—which showed a decline in patient satisfaction and an associated decline in the demand for hospital services—discussion included possible causal factors contributing to these declines. Indicators which scored below the national average compared to the national scores were identified. Additionally, a rise in the 30-day readmission rate for patients with congestive heart failure was noted as a clinical quality issue with financial implications, as was the rise in the hospital death rate from heart attack.

 

Table 5. Hospital G compared to national benchmark

 

Patient Experience Metrics/Ratings

 

Patients reported:

 

Hospital G

 

National

 

Nurses always communicated well

 

73%

 

80%

 

Doctors always communicated well

 

77%

 

82%

 

They always received help as soon as they wanted

 

59%

 

70%

 

Staff always explained their medicines before giving it to them

 

64%

 

66%

 

Hospital room and bathroom always clean

 

69%

 

75%

 

The hospital always quiet at night

 

65%

 

62%

 

Information was given about what to do during their recovery at home

 

84%

 

87%

 

Strongly agreed they understood their care when leaving the hospital

 

46%

 

53%

 

Rating their experience a ‘9’ or ‘10’ on a 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest) scale

 

67%

 

73%

 

Would ‘definitely recommend’ the hospital

 

68%

 

72%

 

Clinical Services/Ratings

 

Hospital G

 

National (benchmark)

 

30-day Readmission rate—Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)

 

25.3%

 

21.7%

 

Hospital death rate—heart attack

 

14.6%

 

13.2%

 

The decline in the demand for services signals the need for an assessment to identify the factors contributing to the loss of market share. The concurrent decline in patient satisfaction requires an assessment of the factors contributing to changes to the patient experience. The high readmission rates for patients with congestive health failure and the increased hospital death rates from heart attack requires a review of clinical services in the cardiac center.

 

Your chief marketing officer will lead a task force to analyze the external environment and current marketing materials. Your chief nursing officer, who also chairs the quality improvement committee will lead the task force assigned to assess the internal environment. The chief financial officer will provide the current and projected financial outlook given the decline in demand for services and loss of revenue from reimbursements.

 

Following their research, a new meeting was held with the task force chairs to gain insight into their findings. In addition to your senior team, you invited your hospital’s chief medical officer and the chief executive and chief nursing officers from your community health department. The task force committees have narrowed the issues into two main categories affecting patient satisfaction and the demand for services: communication and clinical services.

 

Assignment Instructions:

 

For this assignment, you will complete the table shown listing the conditions, strategies to address, and the expected results of each strategy. You will provide a narrative report justifying your responses in the table. Be sure to insert the table into your report.

 

Consider the following questions as you complete this assignment:

 

· Is patient satisfaction with the hospital affected by communication issues encountered during their hospital admission?

 

· Does the patient’s level of understanding of their discharge care affect the readmission rates and death rates?

 

· Are there marketing strategies that can improve communication?

 

Table 6. Template for conditions/strategies/expected results