MHA-FPX5010 MichelleSmith Assessment 1 Current Environmental Analysis Example

Current Environmental Analysis: St. Vincent’s Medical Center

Background

St. Vincent’s Medical Center is a 437-bed Catholic care facility founded in 1905 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The hospital is managed by Hartford Healthcare, serving the larger Southern Connecticut area. It has over 1800 workers and an additional 450 physicians. It integrates many continuum programs, including an angioplasty program, cancer and orthopedic services, and bariatric surgery (Hospital Care Data, 2022). The facility also includes an entertainment center, sleeping accommodations for caregivers, and a family birth center (Hospital Care Data., 2022). The discussion describes the environmental analysis of the hospital, including how each factor impacts the business strategy and market.

MHA-FPX5010 MichelleSmith Assessment 1 Current Environmental Analysis

Organizational Directional Strategy: Mission, Vision, and Goals

Mission

  • Making God’s healing presence known worldwide by improving patients’ health, especially the vulnerable, and advancing social justice.

Vision

  • A healthier future for all, inspired by faith, powered by humanity and driven by innovation

Goals

  • Centerpiece for managing and monitoring performance
  • Compassion
  • Inclusion
  • Integrity
  • Collaboration
  • Excellence

PESTLE Analysis

PESTLE analysis evaluates the macro elements impacting an organization. It provides the overall market that the business would sustain operations in the future. PESTLE describes the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental elements (Morrison, 2016). The following is a PESTLE analysis based on St. Vincent’s Medical Center:

Political Factors:

Political factors include the political environment of the state or nation in which an organization operates. It may also include global bilateral and international relations of politics between different nations that the company has a presence (Morrison, 2016). Thus, political factors may include entry regulations, tax laws and tariffs, government policies, and government stability.

St. Vincent’s Medical Center operates in Connecticut with a stable political environment. Nonetheless, the healthcare organization is still impacted by tax regulation changes, insurance mandates, and consumer protection (Hospital Care Data, 2022). The local government has experienced inconsistent healthcare spending, affecting tax policy changes.

Economic Factors:

Economic factors influence business direction according to the economy’s performance. Major economic factors include foreign exchange rates, monetary and fiscal policies, unemployment, inflation, income disposal, and credit accessibility (Goldstein, 2019). St. Vincent’s Medical Center is mostly affected by unemployment, interest rates, and inflation, which have confronted Connecticut in recent decades (Health Improvement Alliance, 2020).

Indeed, these elements have affected how residents pay healthcare insurance and related bills. Thus, this negatively affects patients when they are ill. According to Ginter et al. (2018), economic factors affect the broader healthcare industry, including healthcare services, equipment, life sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals.

Social Factors:

Social elements include the mindset, beliefs, values, norms, culture, and traditions of people receiving the products and benefits of a business. Social factors may include educational levels, wealth distribution, gender, and domestic structures (Morrison, 2016). St. Vincent’s Medical Center operates in an urban environment where education levels, income, and related social norms are harmonized (Hartford Healthcare, n.d.). Notably, most patients do not also hold cultural and traditional beliefs that may affect treatment interventions. Still, the healthcare facility should remain conscious of Connecticut residents since most access health information across online platforms before seeking medical intervention.

Technological Factors:

Technological elements describe the advancement in innovation impacting the industry. The recent decades have witnessed healthcare transitions regarding technological developments, including medical administration tools, treatment tools, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things, and remote healthcare technology tools (Wilson Reardon, 2020).

The changes have also impacted St. Vincent’s Medical Center. The facility has incorporated technology across various departments, including the electronic healthcare records for the health records department (Hospital Care Data, 2022). The facility has recently adapted to using apps and social media like Facebook to connect with clients and the community.

Legal Factors:

Legal factors include the legalities and regulations. Legal factors change over time based on regime changes, which may affect healthcare policies and laws. For instance, the Obama administration introduced the ObamaCare social healthcare federal plan (O’Dell & Aspy, 2015). However, the plan was undermined by the Trump administration. The potential legal factors include employment regulations, health and safety laws, patient’s rights and infringements, or business competition.

Environmental Factors:

The environmental factors include climate change and scarce natural resources. St. Vincent’s Medical Center adopted an environmental sustainability program that addresses waste disposal and management, corporate social sustainability, and increasing awareness among stakeholders on environmental issues (St. Vincent’s Medical Center, 2018). It also committed to reducing its carbon footprint through innovative practices, recycling, green procurement, energy management, green transport, and water conservation.

Conclusion

The US healthcare industry is significantly transitioning, influenced by technological, political, social, and competitive factors. Across all states, including Connecticut, the industry is segmented into healthcare services, equipment, life sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals. Thus, strategic environmental analysis is critical in evaluating the internal and external factors impacting a healthcare organization’s performance.

The analysis assesses the potential opportunities and threats presented by the market, leading to sound decision-making. St. Vincent’s Medical  Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut, operates in a highly dynamic market. Therefore, it is essential to conduct its current environmental analysis to understand the market dynamics.

MHA-FPX5010 MichelleSmith Assessment 1 Current Environmental Analysis References

MHA-FPX5010 Assessment 1 Instructions: Current Environmental Analysis

In 3–5 pages, analyze the current environment of a selected health care organization.

Questions to Consider:

  • How does the analytical model of strategic management compare with the emergent learning model in health care?
  • What are some examples of analytical strategies in a small health care organization? How do they differ from large organizations?
  • What is the analytical strategy within your own health care organization?

PREPARATION

Choose a health care organization. This may be an organization where you currently work, where you desire to work, or one about which you would like to learn more. You may select one from any of these sectors (or select a sector not listed here that directly reflects your career plans).

  • Long-term care.
  • Mid-sized facility.
  • Behavioral health hospital.
  • Large urban hospital.
  • Small rural hospital.
  • Freestanding facility.
  • Telehealth organization.
  • Government/military integrated delivery network (IDN).

CONDUCT AN ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

Analyze your health care organization’s current environment using tools included in the strategic management planning process. The purpose of this analysis is to scan the both the internal and external environments so that you can identify current challenges and opportunities in preparation for the future.

Note: You may use any contemporary environmental analysis tool to conduct your analysis (for example, PESTL analysis, Michael Porter’s 5 forces model, Levels of competition model).

In order to complete the analysis you will need to examine both the internal and external environments. Your analysis must include the following:

  • Identify key structural features of the industry that determine the forces governing competition.
  • Discuss the goals and strategies of the respective competitive forces.
  • Examine the organization’s directional strategy, including its vision, mission, and values.
  • Determine the organization’s positioning approach at this point in time.
  • Summarize your insights and findings related to the current challenges and opportunities faced by your selected organization at the time of your analysis.
  • Include references to peer-reviewed sources that support your analysis. Examples of these sources could be accrediting body standards, industry standards, government agency reports (for example, National Academy of Medicine, et cetera) as well as organizational information.
  • Cite your sources using current APA guidelines.

Resources:

Strategic Planning
Balanced Scorecard

An older article, but the seminal work by the authors that created the balanced scorecard.

Environmental Culture and Analysis

This article discusses a greater understanding of the role of culture in sickness, illness, and cultural beliefs of the causes of ill health and diseases.

These resources and articles may be helpful to you in understanding the process for conducting an environmental analysis.

  • Hegwer, L. R. (2014). Digging deeper into data. Healthcare Financial Management, 68(2), 80–84.
  • Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2013). Strategic management of health care organizations (7th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
    • Chapter 1, “The Nature of Strategic Management,” pages 1–30.
    • Chapter 2, “External Analysis,” pages 33–72.
    • Chapter 3, “Service Area Competitive Analysis,” pages 75–129.
    • Chapter 4, “Internal Analysis and Competitive Advantage,” pages 128–162.
    • Chapter 5, “Directional Strategies,” pages 163–204.
    • Appendix A, “Analyzing Strategic Health Care Cases,” pages 411–421.

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