Changes in the Healthcare Environment

Changes in the Healthcare Environment

The healthcare landscape is a dynamic field marred by constant changes. One example of change likely to occur in the healthcare environment is the shift in healthcare delivery from inpatient or institutionalized care to outpatient and ambulatory settings. This change is informed by healthcare innovations that allow outpatient treatment and diagnostic procedures (Baumann & Wyss, 2021). With care approaches tending towards a patient-centered approach, further innovations are now enabling care processes to be delivered in patient homes, retail clinics, primary care facilities, and nursing homes.

The four processes involved in environmental analysis include scanning, monitoring, forecasting, and assessing. Scanning identifies ensuing concerns on the healthcare landscape and informs the organization of the technicalities the change presents before implementation. Monitoring follows up on the preparedness of the healthcare environment for the change. Forecasting, however, provides a framework for determining the direction of the change and how it affects the healthcare environment. The assessment process determines the impact of the change on organization operationalization.

The most crucial process is scanning. This process enables the determination of the suitability for the change and informs the organization’s position in executing the desired change. Anomalies during this process may jeopardize the entire change process (Charlton et al., 2019). This makes it the most crucial process in a change process.

In conclusion, the healthcare system must implement innovative changes to improve its operationalization. A shift to non-hospitalized care is such a change that may benefit the patients. However, these changes should only be implemented upon thorough scrutiny of the system and determination of the suitability of the system to handle that change (Pourmohammadi et al., 2020). Scanning allows for this scrutiny and informs on the suitability of the change.

References

Baumann, A., & Wyss, K. (2021). The shift from inpatient care to outpatient care in Switzerland since 2017: Policy processes and the role of evidence. Health Policy, 125(4), 512-519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.01.012

Charlton, P., Doucet, S., Azar, R., Nagel, D., Boulos, L., & Luke, A. et al. (2019). The use of the environmental scan in health services delivery research: a scoping review protocol. BMJ Open, 9(9), e029805. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029805

Pourmohammadi, K., Bastani, P., Shojaei, P., Hatam, N., & Salehi, A. (2020). A comprehensive environmental scanning and strategic analysis of Iranian Public Hospitals: a prospective approach. BMC Research Notes, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-020-05002-8

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Changes in the Healthcare Environment

Explore one type of change likely to occur in the healthcare environment over the next several years.
Evaluate the four processes that are involved in environmental analysis.
In your opinion, which one of the four processes you described above is the most important and why?
What did you conclude from this evaluation?
Use your course and textbook readings and the South University Online Library to support your work. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

Your initial posting should be addressed at 150-300 words. Submit your document to this Discussion Area by the due date assigned. Be sure to cite your sources using APA format.