Digitalizing Medical Records as a Strategy of the Clinic

Final Project Milestone Two: Introduction and Assessment

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The healthcare sector encounters a variety of challenges every day. As such, there is a need for continuous evaluation of the strategic plans for any organization in healthcare management Gardner et al., 2015). The purpose of a strategic plan is to provide the roadmap on the direction of an organization, going forward. Indeed, it guides all the decisions pertaining to capital, technology and other resources. Specifically, according to Gardner et al. (2015), it involves a review of the mission and vision statements as well as business and cultural analysis. The organization that is the subject of this paper is the one, which provides general healthcare services to individuals. Specifically, a clinic offers first diagnosis of various ailments. As such, it is not a referral facility. In achieving its goals, the organization has devised a strategic plan that involves the installation of IT to help in digitalizing medical records. Specifically, the organization will aim at having electronic health records (EHR).

The mission statement of the organization is to be a first class organization that embraces the use of IT in its operations. The vision statement, on the other hand, is To be recognized as a techno-savvy organization that digitally keeps the records of its clients, for proper healthcare management and practice. The value statements are those of discipline, professionalism, competency and effective healthcare. The organization will be headed by a medical superintendent, and will compose of several medical practitioners in different fields. Indeed, the organization aims at providing effective healthcare services to the local community.

The project topic that is the focus of the strategic plan is to digitalize medical healthcare records for proper storage and referral. In this regard, the project will involve the electronic storage of healthcare records in the organization. Specifically, it will involve the designing of a proper electronic storage mechanism of records by IT professionals.

The mission of the organization is to improve healthcare by digitalizing healthcare records. The project itself involves the electronic storage of the records. As such, the mission and vision statements are in tandem with the project goals as both are geared towards the use of IT in medical record keeping.

In the implementation of the strategic plan, the organization faces a variety of internal and external factors that are likely to affect the pace of the implementation (Kruse, 2013). The internal factors include financial resources, changes in management, employees reaction to the project, and ability to get used to the new changes. Financial resources will be a challenge to the organization while, it is likely that the employees will find it hard to embrace the changes (Kruse, 2013). However, the strengths are that it will be easier to access any previous medical records. These internal factors will need to be mitigated before the project is launched.

The external factors include competition, environmental challenges, legal requirements and regulations, as well as the requirement of the industry. In this regard, the organization is likely to face competition from other organizations that have already embraced the electronic health records (EHR). Additionally, the installation requires the organization to obey all legal requirements about the protection of patients medical information. Additionally, there is pressure from the medical industry to digitalize these records. However, the strength is that the company will be more organized and attract more clients. Further, it has an opportunity to still be the leader in healthcare service delivery. These external factors will slow the pace of the project; however, a way of countering them must be devised. Consequently, with effective planning, they will all be mitigated.

References

Gardner, J. W., Boyer, K. K., & Gray, J. V. (2015). Operational and strategic information processing: Complementing healthcare IT infrastructure. Journal of Operations Management, 33, 123-139.

Kruse, C. (2013). An Analysis of the External Environmental and Internal Organizational Factors Associated With Adoption of the Electronic Health Record.