Business Case for Adoption of Telemedicine at Tenet Healthcare Organization

Business Case for Adoption of Telemedicine at Tenet Healthcare Organization

Potential Economic Opportunities and Risks

The use of telemedicine has expanded since the Covid-19 pandemic, as insurers, policymakers, and healthcare facilities continue to look for affordable ways to deliver healthcare to patients. The growing demand for telemedicine has resulted in various changes to telehealth coverage, policy, and implementation to enhance the accessibility of telemedicine, particularly during emergencies (Khemapech, 2019). Tenet Healthcare Organization could benefit from this by using telemedicine to promote collaboration between healthcare providers in healthcare facilities across the United States. Another opportunity that Tenet Healthcare Organization could benefit from is the growth in digital infrastructure in the healthcare setting. The Global Digital Health Index can help Tenet Healthcare Organization monitor, track and assess the enabling digital environment for the implementation of telemedicine in different healthcare facilities. The assessment can help Tenet Healthcare improve telemedicine adoption, thus improving patient quality of care.

One of the main risks that pose a threat to Tenet Healthcare organization’s financial security is the possibility of misdiagnosis. According to Botrugno (2022), telemedicine increases the chances of misdiagnosis because the healthcare providers in different locations rely on the information provided by the healthcare provider in contact with a patient. Therefore, if the healthcare provider shares wrong or misleading information, the patient may be misdiagnosed. Misdiagnosis will increase the financial uncertainty and vulnerability of Tenet Healthcare Organization and could limit profitability due to a bad reputation. Another risk involves issues in insurance coverage. According to Baker-Whitcomb & Harvey (2018), providing care remotely raises payment and insurance coverage issues. Patients may be reluctant to use telemedicine because it is not covered in their health insurance, and healthcare providers may be reluctant to use it because of the uncertainty on how it will be incorporated into their payment terms. The benefits from the potential economic opportunities of adopting telemedicine outweigh the potential risks because the risks can be mitigated to enhance the success of telemedicine. Therefore, Tenet Healthcare Organization needs to structure a risk management strategy with risk mitigation techniques for every risk, including unexpected risks.

Ethical and Culturally Sensitive Solutions to Telemedicine Risks

One of the measures that could be taken to modify the telemedicine initiative to mitigate the risk of insurance coverage issues is collaborating with healthcare insurance companies to cover telemedicine in their medical cover packages. The organization could inform healthcare insurance companies about the benefits of telemedicine in healthcare to convince them that it is necessary to guarantee quality healthcare services. Other healthcare organizations have dealt with this risk by signing a form where a patient agrees to meet telemedicine costs if their healthcare insurance providers do not cover the costs. Therefore, partnering with insurance companies would give Tenet Healthcare Organization a competitive advantage because the patients would not have to meet telemedicine costs independently. Tenet Organization could also train healthcare providers on how to access the information provided by other healthcare providers to ensure that it is accurate before diagnosing a patient remotely. Healthcare providers should also be held accountable for misdiagnosis. According to Manheimer (2015), holding healthcare providers accountable for medical errors makes them more careful when treating patients to avoid the consequences. Therefore, Tenet Healthcare Organization could clarify the disciplinary actions for healthcare providers who make medical errors.

Although the solutions above may disadvantage patients with no healthcare insurance, they apply to the majority of the population in the United States seeking medical care from different Tenet Healthcare Organization facilities across the country. However, the risks need to be addressed by all applicable means possible because the adoption of telemedicine plays a vital role in community health care delivery outcomes. For instance, telemedicine is a great opportunity for economic growth because it improves the quality of health care, thus increasing the productivity of human capital to the extent of positively contributing to economic growth. It also reduces government costs on healthcare, particularly costs incurred in paying healthcare providers in government hospitals, thus creating more money for economic development.

Economic Costs and Benefits of the Adoption of Telemedicine over a Five-Year Period

The analysis warns against the increase in the cost of digital infrastructure. The cost could be increased by advancing technology requiring healthcare facilities to upgrade the hardware and software used for telemedicine. The analysis also indicates the likelihood of an increase in the cost of staff training. Healthcare organizations may be required to hire experts to train their staff on the application of telemedicine. Regular training is required to keep staff updated on new telemedicine applications in the healthcare setting and how to prevent the risks associated with their adoption. I would recommend incorporating these findings in assessing the feasibility of the initiative based on the healthcare organization’s ability to meet future costs without affecting other activities within the healthcare facilities.

Ethical and Culturally Equitable Ways of Keeping Costs Under Control While Maximizing the Benefits of the Adoption of Telemedicine

Tenet Healthcare can control training costs by hiring staff who already have experience in telemedicine because they would not require additional training. The experienced staff can then provide on-the-job training to their colleagues, thus eliminating the costs of hiring a qualified trainer. Controlling training costs could enable Tenet Healthcare Organization to redirect the funds spent on training to other activities in the organization to enhance its efficiency. The organization would regularly monitor training needs and any additional expertise needed to meet these needs to maximize the benefits of reducing training costs. The organization will also ensure that any cost controls and benefit reductions are equitable and ethical by conducting a detailed analysis to ensure that they do not affect the welfare of the patients and healthcare providers. For instance, the organization would ensure that the cost reductions do not threaten patient safety or limit access to quality healthcare and do not create bad working conditions for healthcare providers. Notably, bad working conditions could be characterized by pay delays, lack of protective clothing, and long working hours.

References

Baker-Whitcomb, A., & Harvey, J. (2018). Benefits and barriers to Telehealth Credentialing by proxy. Telemedicine and e-Health, 24(11), 922-926. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2017.0129

Botrugno, C. (2022). The spread of telemedicine in daily practice. The Cambridge Handbook of Information Technology, Life Sciences and Human Rights, 102-112. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108775038.010

Khemapech, T. (2019). Telemedicine – Meaning, challenges, and opportunities. Siriraj Medical Journal, 71(3), 246-252. https://doi.org/10.33192/smj.2019.38

Manheimer, E. (2015). Prevention of errors and patient safety: Institutional perspectives. Clinical Oncology and Error Reduction, 125-144. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118749272.ch9

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Assessment 2 Instructions: Developing a Business Case
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Develop a 3-5 page business case for the initiative you proposed in Assessment 1. Examine feasibility and cost-benefit considerations over a 5-year period, analyze ways to mitigate risks, and complete a cost-benefit analysis.

Introduction
Note: Each assessment in this course builds upon the work you have completed in previous assessments. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in the order in which they are presented.

As a master’s-level health care practitioner, you are expected to consider a number of factors when analyzing the feasibility of a new initiative. For example, you must consider the various types of risk (such as patient safety, physical plant, financial, or reputation), as well as the present and future value of the service line or economic opportunity in which you are investing. You must also balance your ethical and moral responsibility to provide quality care to patients and populations with your responsibility to protect your organization’s assets and economic viability in the near and long term.

Instructions
Develop a business case for the economic initiative you proposed in Assessment 1. Examine the feasibility and cost-benefit considerations of implementing your proposed initiative over the next five years. Analyze ways to mitigate risks and complete a cost-benefit analysis.

Note: Remember that you can submit all or a portion of your draft business case to Smarthinking for feedback before you submit the final version for this assessment. If you plan on using this free service, be mindful of the turnaround time of 24–48 hours for receiving feedback.

The requirements for your business case, outlined below, correspond to the scoring guide criteria, so be sure to address each main point. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed. In addition, be sure to note the requirements for document format and length and for supporting evidence.

Analyze the potential economic opportunities and risks associated with your proposed initiative.
How do the potential opportunities benefit your organization or care setting?
How could potential risks pose a threat to the financial security of your organization or care setting?
How do the potential economic opportunities compare to the potential economic risks?
Propose ethical and culturally sensitive solutions that address the risks associated with your initiative to the future economic security of your organization or care setting.
Which risks are potentially the most significant for your organization or care setting?
How could you modify your proposed initiative to mitigate those risks?
How have other organizations and experts in the field dealt with similar risks?
How do ethics and equality factor into your proposed solutions?
Are your solutions unfairly burdening or disadvantaging any specific groups?
How will this proposal affect community healthcare delivery outcomes?
What makes this a great opportunity for economic growth?
What potential issues should be considered?
Analyze the economic costs and benefits of your proposed initiative over a five-year period.
Use the Cost-Benefit Analysis Template [XLSX] for your calculations. Add the worksheet to your business case as an appendix.
Does your analysis warn against specific aspects of your proposed initiative?
How would you recommend that your findings be incorporated into decisions about the feasibility of your proposed initiative?
Propose ethical and culturally equitable ways of keeping costs under control while maximizing the benefits of your initiative.
What costs are you most likely to be able to control or reduce?
How would you go about ensuring this?
How could controlling or reducing these costs affect the benefits of your proposed initiative?
What strategies could you employ to maintain or maximize these benefits while controlling or reducing costs?
How do you plan to ensure that any cost controls or benefit reductions are ethical and equitable?
Justify the relevance and significance of the quantitative and qualitative economic, financial, and scholarly evidence you used to support your business case.
This criterion applies to any evidence you cited throughout your business case. Your evidence should be persuasive and relevant to your findings, proposals, and recommendations. Consider one or more of the following questions when citing support evidence:
How is the evidence relevant to your organization or care setting?
How is the evidence relevant to your proposed economic initiative?
How does the evidence illustrate a solution that has been successful in the past?
How does the evidence illustrate that an initiative or solution is likely to be a net benefit to the organization or care setting?
Write concisely and directly, using active voice.
Proofread your document before you submit it to minimize errors that could distract readers and make it more difficult for them to focus on the substance of your business case.
Apply current APA formatting to in-text citations and references.
Example Assessment: You may use the following to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like:

Assessment 2 Example [PDF].
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:

Format: Format your business case using APA current style. Use the APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX] to help you in writing and formatting your business case. Be sure to include:
A title page and references page. An abstract is not required.
A running head on all pages.
Appropriate section headings.
Length: Your business case should be 3-5 pages in length, not including the title page and references page.
Supporting evidence: Cite 4–5 authoritative and scholarly resources to support your business case. Be sure that your sources include specific economic data.
Portfolio Prompt: You may choose to save your business case to your ePortfolio.

Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment scoring guide criteria:

Competency 1: Analyze the effects of financial and economic factors (such as cost-benefit, supply and demand, return on investment, and risks) in a health care system on patient care, services offered, and organizational structures and operation.
Analyze the potential economic opportunities and risks associated with a proposed initiative.
Analyze the economic costs and benefits of a proposed initiative over a five-year period.
Competency 2: Develop ethical and culturally equitable solutions to economic problems within a health care organization in an effort to improve the quality of care and services offered.
Propose ethical and culturally equitable ways of keeping costs under control, while maximizing the benefits of an initiative.
Competency 3: Justify the qualitative and quantitative information used to guide economic decision making to stakeholders and colleagues.
Justify the relevance and significance of the quantitative and qualitative economic, financial, and scholarly evidence used to support a business case.
Competency 4: Develop ethical and culturally equitable economic strategies to address dynamic environmental forces and ensure the future security of an organization’s resources and its ability to provide quality care.
Propose ethical and culturally sensitive solutions that address the risks associated with an initiative to the future economic security of the organization or care setting.
Competency 5: Produce clear, coherent, and professional written work, in accordance with Capella writing standards.
Write concisely and directly using active voice.
Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references.