An overview of healthcare

management
 Learning objectives

• Define healthcare management and the role of the healthcare managers

• Differentiate among the functions, roles and responsibilities of

healthcare managers.

Compare and contrast the key competencies of healthcare managers

 Health care setting
• Direct: Those organizations that provide care directly to a patient,
client, residence who seeks services from the organization.

• Non-direct: Are not directly involved in providing care to persons

needing health services, but rather support the care of individuals
through products and services made available to direct care settings.
 Health care Management
• Is the profession that provides leadership and direction to organizations

• That deliver personal health services to divisions, departments units or

services within those organization.

• HCM provides significant rewards and personal satisfaction for those

who want to make a difference in the lives of others.
 Introduction to management

• Management has been defined as the process, comprised of social and

technical functions and activities, occurring within the organizations
for the purpose of accomplishing predetermined objectives through
humans and other resources. (Longest, Rakich & Darr 2000).

Managers work through others to accomplish organizational goals.

 Introduction to management

• Managers work through and with other people, carrying out technical
and interpersonal activities, in order to achieve desired objectives of the
organization.

• Manager is anyone in the organization who supports and is responsible

for the work performance of one or more other persons (Lombardi &
Schermerhorn, 2007).
 The need for managers
• Health care organizations are complex and dynamic.

• It requires managers to provide leadership, supervision and coordination

of employees.

• To attain goals of organization is beyond the capacity of single individual.

• Scope of organization is vast.

• Healthcare organizations require coordination of highly specialized

disciplines.
 The need for managers
• To a chive organization goals.

• Have authority to take important decision i.e.

S Recruitment,

S Development of staff,

S Acquisition of technology,

S Allocation and spending of financial resources.

 Managers must contain two domains
• External domain: refers to the influences, resources, and activities that exist
outside the boundary of organization but that significantly affect the
organization.

• Internal domain: refers to those areas of focus that managers need to address
daily, such as ensuring the appropriate number and types of staff, financial
performance and quality of care.
Table 1-1. Domains of Health Services Administration
TABLE 1-1 Domains of Health Services Administration

External Internal

Community Demographics/Need Staffing

Licensure Budgeting
Accreditation Quality services
Regu lations Patient satisfaction
Stakeholder Demands Physician relations
Com petitors Financial performance
Medicare and Medicaid Technology acquisition
Managed care organizations/ Insurers New service development

Source: J. M, Thompson, “Health Services Administration ’ in S. Chisolm (Ed.), The Health

Professions: Trends and Opportunities in U.S. Health Care, 2007.
 Management Functions
Six management functions are as follows. ( Longest et al., 2000):

1. Planning : Preparing road map for future.

2. Organizing : Determining positions, Teamwork assignments, and

distribution of authority and responsibility.

3. Staffing : Refers to human resource.

4. Directing : Initiating actions.

5. Controlling: It refers to monitoring or keep an eye on performance.

6. Decision making: Choosing best available option.

 Controlling and Directing

• Controlling: monitoring staff activities and performance and

taking the appropriate actions for corrective action to increase
performance.

• Directing: initiating action in the organization through effective

leadership and motivation of, and communication with,
subordinates.
 Decision Making

• Decision making is the critical function to all the levels of

management and means making effective decisions based on
consideration of benefits and the drawbacks of alternatives.
 Competencies to achieve management
functions
1. Conceptual skills : Thinking and planning

2. Technical skills : Expertise to perform a specific work or

task

3. Interpersonal skills: Ability to coordinate with colleges i.e.

supervisors and subordinates.
 Competencies: Conceptual Skills
• Those skills that involve the ability to critically analyze and solve
complex problems.
• Examples:
• a manager conducts an analysis of the best way to provide a service
• a manager determines a strategy to reduce patient complaints
regarding food service
Competencies: Technical Skills
• Those skills that reflect expertise or ability to perform a specific
work task.
• Examples:
• a manager develops and implements a new incentive compensation
program for staff
• a manager designs and implements modifications to a computer-based
staffing model
 Management Positions

• Upper level
• Middle level
• Lower level
 Hierarchy and Control
• Management positions exist at lower levels, middle-management
levels, and at upper levels, i.e., senior management.

• Hierarchy of management means that authority, or power, is

delegated downward in the organization, and that lower-level
managers have less authority than higher-level managers whose scope
of responsibility is much greater.
 Vertical Structure
• Size and complexity of the specific health services
organization will dictate the structure.

• Larger organizations—such as large community

hospitals, hospital systems, and academic medical
centers—will likely have deep vertical structures
reflecting varying levels of administrative control for
the organization.
 Focus of Management
• Self Management: the individual manager must be able to effectively
manage himself or herself, as well as time, information, space, and
materials; being responsive and following through with peers,
supervisors, and clients.

• Maintaining a positive attitude and high motivation; developing and

applying appropriate skills and competencies.
 Unit/Team Management
• The expertise of the manager at this level involves managing others
in terms of effectively completing the work through task
interdependence.

• Includes assigning work tasks, review and modification of

assignments, monitoring and review of individual performance, and
carrying out the management functions described previously.
 Role of management
1. Talent management :Acquiring and maintaining
motivated and competent human resource.

2. Succession planning: It refers to the concept of taking

actions to ensure that staff can move up in management
roles within the organization in order to replace those
managers who retire or moved to another organization.

3. Ensuring high performance: Ensure to Achieve results

and activities according to preset goals and objectives.
4. Healthcare policy: Managers should keep abreast of the
knowledge of health policy matters at national and state
level.
 Talent Management
• Recruitment, retention, training and development of highly skilled
employees' human resources are critical to health care organizations.

• Health care organizations compete for the brightest and the best talent.

Managers look for and keep the talent!

 Succession Planning
• The concept of taking actions to ensure that staff can move up in
management roles within the organization, in order to replace those managers
who, retire or move to other opportunities in other organizations.

• Now more than ever before, succession planning is needed at all levels, not
just senior management.

• A second method to make succession planning is Formal leadership

development programs should be implemented in a healthcare
Organization
 Health Care Policy
• Managers must be knowledgeable about health policy matters under
consideration at the state and federal levels that affect organizations and
health care delivery.

• Often organizations have designated staff to monitor this—but manager

must stay current with or lose opportunities. Professional organizations
such as ACHE and MGMA help with this.
Buchbinder, S.B., Shanks, N.H. (2012). Introduction to Health
Care Management (2nd ed.).Burlington, M.A: Jones & Bartlett
Learning.

Thanks