Running Head: CAPSTONE PROJECT 1

Section 3

National and world economy impact

In 2012 severe economic conditions have had immense effects in sectors and

organizations, including health care. It has been noted that despite these conditions, Scripps

continues to fully take on the challenge of meeting the health care needs of the community. The

challenges may include (Scripps Health community benefit plan report).

 Population growth and high cost of living. The rapid growth in the population both

nationally and globally has brought about an increase in the needs for medical services.

Increased population coupled with increased cost of living requires an immediate

expansion of the organizational activities which might pose financial crisis especially

when the population grows rapidly and for a longer period of time.

 Ability to pay. Due to the increase in cost of living, many uninsured families are unable

to afford medical services. Scripps mission is about providing efficient medical services

towards the members of the society and it is thus forced to make arrangements for such

families which sometimes may be too costly.

 Inaccessibility of medical services. Some families are located in marginalized areas and

therefore increased cost to be incurred by Scripps as it tries to reach to cater for the

medical needs of these families. It has as well be noted that about 2% of the community

members fail to get access to correct medical service due to their remote locations

forcing charitable medical organizations to go out and take care for these families.

Sustainability of Scripps care model

The Scripps network consists of thousands of physicians from a wide range of medical

and surgical specialties. Scripps is committed towards bringing together the community to
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focus in a more collaborative way of sharing information and finding solutions to common

problems so as to improve its quality. The bringing together of the community is meant to

inspire quality initiative so as to promote critical elements required for successful quality

improvement programs to measurably improve outcomes while reducing the health care costs.

The following are ways that have made their care model sustainable (Surgical Health Care

Quality).

 Adoption of evidence-based and proven value proposition that focuses on improving

quality to decrease costs and decrease variations in care. This has made a difference in

working towards a sustainable health care system.

 Participating in ACS NSQIP. This is known as a model for outcomes-based quality

improvement. It collects clinical, risk-adjusted, 30-day outcomes data in a nationally

benchmarked database. A study published in the Annals of surgery in 2009 determined

that hospitals participating in ACS NSQIP prevented 250-500 complications, resulting

in an average of 13—26 live saved per hospital, per year. With the average cost of

medical complications equaling $11,000 per occurrence, the combined potential savings

of 4,500 hospitals could add up to $13-26 billion each year, amounting to an estimated

total savings of $260 billion over a period of 10 years.

 Eliminating non-value variation. Through the elimination of non-value variation, the

organization has improved quality, reduced costs, and created more value for its

patients, the whole organization and the community at large.

Health care reform

There have been many fundamental changes in the health care industry- ranging from

care reforms to commercial forces such as provider consolidation and an ageing population and
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therefore Scripps Health has had to restructure their health care system to reduce variation,

lower costs and improve the quality of services it offers to its patients. Scripps has had to

redesign in order to position itself to survive on Medicare margins. These were some of the

impacts (Scripps Health-surviving on Medicare margins):

 Alignment between hospitals and physicians. This was done through encouragement of

the physicians’ participation on decision making by the organization. The needs of the

physicians and the staff should be attended to when they arise without delay and

favoritism. The physicians should carry out their duties with due diligence and care to

meet the organizations goals and objectives.

 Reduce variation in both quality and cost across the system. Scripps ensures that there

exist minimum variations regarding the quality of service between different customers

who might be having different healthcare needs.

 Alignment of inpatient and outpatient services. Some health centers tends to put more

healthcare emphasis on inpatients and very low emphasis on outpatients and this later

becomes a disadvantage as the outpatients’ morale might be negatively affected. Scripps

focuses on ensuring that there are relatively equal care services between inpatients and

outpatients.

 Value to the community. Scripps has continued with its commitment to providing

quality service to raise the quality of life in the community as a whole. To do this the

organization has invested in new technology, attracted qualified and competent

employees and efficient management of the organization’s resources.

Scripps regulations
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Scripps is committed to compliance with the laws and regulations and to an ongoing

corporate compliance program. The organization has a compliance and patient safety Alert line

that is available for reporting concerns. Scripps like any other organization has had to comply

with any new set rules and regulations set by the federal government which may include; safety

measures towards employees, rules regarding how it should carry out its operations, disposal

measures among others.

Some of the regulations that have had impact on Scripps health are listed below

(Scripps compliance Program).

 Confidentiality of patient information. In Scripps, patients’ information and details are

held with utmost confidentiality. This is a requirement in corporate compliance program

and any violation of the guidelines may result to an action by the law enforcement

agency.

 Community benefit plan. This plan was developed in response to senate Bill 697 passed

in 1994, requiring the non-profit hospitals to annually describe and document the full

range of community benefits they provide. Scripps has taken this legislative

requirement a step further and incorporated specific community benefit activities

provided on its five acute care hospital campuses, through home health care, wellness

centers and clinics. The programs provide benefit to the community over and above

standard practices of care.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the world is changing fast and these changes, both economical and legal

issues, continue to have a significant effect on all organizations in all sectors. The overall effect
CAPSTONE PROJECT 5

is that some organizations have faded as they fail to cope with the new demands and

requirements.

Scripps health has continued to take advantage of the improved technology and

increased access to information to enable it to improve its services and this gives it an upper

hand when it comes to provision of quality medical services in San Diego. This has prompted

the Qualcomm foundation to inject a grant of $3.75 million to make it a center for research in

digital technologies that is believed will revolutionize the medicine practice. This among other

organizational orientation that Scripps has adopted has made it adapt in changing times and

requirements.
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Scripps-Health
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