Chamberlain College of Nursing: NR-533- Financial Management in HC Org
Incentives and Economic Implications (graded)
Welcome to week 4.
The outcome come for week 4 is as follows:
Formulate and evaluate a business plan for healthcare organizations. (PO4)
This is a discussion on the use of incentives. I know that we have had a few conversations on this topic in previous weeks.
Debbie and her supervisor are having some preliminary budget discussions. The use of incentives is mentioned. Discuss the purpose of using incentives in Debbie’s operating budget.
Marketing Plans
As we begin this week’s lesson, it is important to discuss marketing concepts and understand how a marketing plan can be beneficial to the nurse leader and healthcare organization. The nurse leader plays a key role in the marketing-plan development and can help influence aspects of the marketing-plan outcome. One critical component to the marketing plan for the nurse leader is the recruitment of nurses. Having the appropriate staff to care for the intended patient population and providing quality-outcome measures are necessities for the viability of the healthcare organization.
Utilization of the four Ps in marketing is one marketing perspective to identify specific actions within a marketing plan. The four Ps include: the product, price, place, and promotion (Finkler, Jones, & Kovner, 2013). The product being marketed or sold may be specific nursing position vacancies. A certain salary or price may be needed for a specific skill set of nurses for a specific location or place within the organization. The promotion includes how the organization chooses to market and share its vacancies and benefits of working for that specific organization.
Use of Incentives
When discussing and developing a marketing plan, it is beneficial to complete a market analysis prior to this development to help determine the supply and demand in the external, surrounding environment. Completing the market analysis will provide the organization with additional insights into whether there is enough projected demand for a particular service or product. For example, an organization wished to add a cardiac rehabilitation center to its existing facility; they completed the market analysis to discover that there is already a thriving cardiac rehabilitation center within five miles. It was determined there would not be enough patient volume to sustain both facilities and the projected patient volume. Based on this analysis, the organization may choose to redirect its efforts to a different area of the market. Included within this analysis is the projected patient mix that may use these services and projected revenue sources such as Medicare or private insurance.
As part of the overall market analysis, being familiar with the strengths and weaknesses within the organization can help target marketing efforts and allot designated funds for a particular project the organization would like to consider. Some geographical areas may have more new nurses or more seasoned nurses, or a shortage of nurses for a specialized area. In locations where a shortage of staff may exist, creative marketing strategies, which may include incentives, can be used by organizations to encourage staff to seek employment with the respective company.
The benefits of securing and retaining employment at the healthcare organization are typically included to aid recruitment efforts in advertising materials. Advertising for an organization can occur in a variety of venues to capture a large audience such as radio, television, newspapers, nursing journals, the Internet, and selected ZIP-code direct mailings. Some incentives to encourage individuals to seek employment at an organization may include: tuition benefits, matching of 401K contributions, childcare benefits, free parking, a flexible schedule, continuing-education support, a clinical-ladder program, Magnet designation of the facility, a wellness center, bonus options, malpractice insurance, and other possibilities.
Economic Implications for Managers
The marketing plan is a multistep process; however, the results of a well-developed marketing plan can have many benefits to the organization, such as staff recruitment and patient-volume increases. The recruitment and retention efforts for younger nurses compared to older nurses may vary. The nurse leader must be cognizant that there are a large number of nurses in the workforce over the age of fifty (Finkler, Jones, & Kovner, 2013). Therefore, with the increasing complexity of care for patients, it is necessary for nurses to take care of themselves by taking their designated breaks, having adequate assistance when moving patients, and an ergonomically friendly environment to avoid unnecessary injury.
As the nurse leader of an organization, it is important to be visible and network at various events when possible to establish contacts and meet potential future employees. Some networking opportunities include presenting at various conferences, being a guest speaker at local nursing schools, mentoring students, participating in professional organizations, and many other opportunities, which allow you to market your product or organization to others in the community and nursing profession. As the leader, you represent your organization, especially your nursing staff.
Healthcare organizations have experienced an increase, historically, in the number of uninsured patients, which has caused organization leaders to be more aware of expenditures and resources in order to meet their budget targets. Some organizations incentivize nurse managers and senior leaders to meet certain targets within their budget. This can have a financial implication for the manager or leader if certain target goals or outcomes within their budget, including recruitment and retention, are not met. Due to the supply and demand for nursing personnel, a certain specialty, or a certain geographic location, the salary for nurses may be higher or lower than other areas. This factor should be considered as part of the organization marketing plan for recruitment and retention.
Summary
This week, we discussed marketing concepts and aspects of the marketing plan for healthcare organizations. We also reflected on the role of the nurse leader regarding this process. Next week, we will discuss pro formas and the use of spreadsheets, which are helpful tools to assist the nurse leader in the oversight of the budget.
References:
Finkler, S., Jones, C., & Kovner, C. (2013). Financial management for nurse managers and executives. (4th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders.
• Chapter 4: Key Issues in Applied Economics
• Chapter 10: Costs and Other Issues Related to Recruiting and Retaining Staff pp. 183–184
Required Articles
Luke, K. (2013). 5 steps to a new marketing plan. Journal of Financial Planning, 26(12), 20–21.
Weiss, R. (2013). How is your organization getting ready for the exchange? What marketing strategies are you pursuing? Marketing Health Services, 33(2), 6–7.
Page or paragraph numbers must be included with quotes per APA. See APA re how to format references and in-text citations i.e. capitalization issues and use of the ampersand versus the word (“and”).
Including at least one in-text citation and matching reference.
Check for grammar and spellings
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