Why Strategic Planning is Important to Healthcare

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Health care is an ever changing entity of the world. By not realizing this and not having a plan for the future is setting up for disaster. By not having a road map to follow, this hospital and any other organization without a plan will end up off course and on a road to failure. Strategic planning is the vehicle that will enable this hospital to steer itself into the future and dictate where it lands. By using strategic planning, the hospital can build a map that can lead it out of 1970 and give it the flexibility to face the future (Zuckerman, 2005). That plan will unite the hospital under common goals and ideals, leading to better communication throughout the organization. What better way to involve employees in the growth and future of this hospital than to involve them in planning for it? By encouraging the planning process with an open mind, one would be encouraging this hospital as a whole to welcome the future with open arms and evolve from the past.

In order to be a successful business of any kind, those that run it must know where it is going, in order to get there; strategic planning is the way to make that happen. Opening doors in 1970, without a plan for the future only makes a plan more necessary today. Health care is an ever changing, ever growing “business” that if one does not have a plan; one will drown in the future. To be successful one needs to know the purpose and rules of the “game”, the strengths and weaknesses of the “crew”, and be well-conditioned and prepared for what is to come (Bryson, 1988). If the hospital is able to plan, unite, and conquer; the future will be successful. Strategic thought and action are important to the viability and the effectiveness of any agency. Without starting a strategic ...

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...to start with, this changing hospital will have no ground to stand on. This health care organization must set goals, insist on change, and draw a road map that will lead it into the future.

Works Cited

Bryson, J. (1988). A strategic planning process for public and non-profit organizations. Long Range Planning (21). 73-81.

Pitt, M. (1997). A generalized simulation system to support strategic resource planning in healthcare. Medical Informatics Group: Dept of Computer Science. Manchester, UK.

Williams, G., Mabon, J., & Heim-Myers, B. (2006). Best practice: Strategic planning in a complex environment: The health-care example. Ivey Business Journal Online, 1-6. http://search.proquest.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/docview/216179571?accountid=28180

Zuckerman, A. M. (2005). Healthcare strategic planning 2nd Ed. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.

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