Building
on the work you completed in Weeks Two and Four, you will complete a
feasibility study based on a pre- approved health care project of your choice.
Using the feasibility study outlined in the Daniels and Dickson (1990) article
as a model, and including a minimum of six other relevant resources and
readings, create a 12- to15-page feasibility study that includes the following
headings and supporting information:
Evaluating
Feasibility
The
concept of a feasibility study is central to viability, the “worth to the
effort” ratio, and return on investment (ROI). What needs to be taken into
consideration to create a feasibility study (e.g., human resources, community
needs, technological advances, federal and state regulatory issues)? Within
this section, you will research and design an economical health care service
that is responsive to a given market. This research stems from understanding
your target population and present need in health services. Furthermore, as you
have seen from the Daniels and Dickson (1990) article, you must appraise your
human resources, capital investment, and how your effort will yield a return on
investment from your facilities perspective as well as the intangible greater
good of providing healthcare to a community.
Strategic
Effect
Analyze
the role of public policy with regard to your project. What policies and
processes should be in place to create an effective program? How will you
measure the effectiveness of your program and your provision of health care
services? Develop a microeconomic model that is responsive to the specific
health care service demands of your target population. For example, the current
trend of the medical home model, which allows for the coordination of care,
allows for better communication among service providers as well as convenience
for patients. Is the population a market priority? How does your program serve
a need for your target population?
Market
Analysis
Within
this section you will identify the population demographics, who your
competitors are, and whether or not a real need for the services you are
proposing exists in the community. As you examine the demographic and
population needs using Census data and other reliable sources, you must also
consider what competitors, if any, exist in the present climate. This requires
an evaluation of the present socioeconomic and cultural trends influencing how
people make decisions in health care. In addition, in this analysis you will
need to compare and contrast economic challenges and incentives among health
care’s organization models. This comparison requires an understanding of past
challenges and incentives that other organizations have implemented.
Financial
Analysis
This section includes the revenue, expenses, and net income.
Compare and contrast economic challenges and incentives by finding and
describing multiple sources of public and private funding (e.g., grants,
donations, awards, special projects) for this project. Include a reference list
for your funding sources that is formatted in APA as outlined in the Ashford
Writing Center. Next, identify the funding constraints for each source. Include
limitations of monies awarded, timing issues, fitting the needs of the funding
sources, difficulties of connecting with private funders, etc. Finally, specify
the internal ramifications of moving forward using SWOT analysis. What are the
fixed and variable costs associated with your project? What are the annual
maintenance and operation costs? Elaborate on how you arrived at your
sensitivity analysis conclusions.
Operations
Performance
This
section examines the incremental effect of how your proposed service will
impact all aspects of health services. This portion of the study explores how
the statistical data you have researched affects the proposed service in terms
of efficiency and value. This can be difficult to measure initially. However,
through incremental and ongoing evaluation of operations, you can begin to see
what constitutes the best performance in this instance and how it serves the
target population. In this section, you will further illustrate the incentives
and challenges faced by a health organization and communicate the relevance of
economics within the U.S. health care system as it pertains to your proposed
services.
Inpatient
If your
proposed study has an inpatient component, this section will elaborate on
volume of patients, types of payers, and how utilization rates impact your
proposed study. In addition, you will further explain how your new inpatient
service will add value for patients and improve the financial viability of the
institution. This section will require you to use both qualitative and
quantitative data to justify the plan. Hospitals operate in terms of how many
beds are occupied relative to how many are empty. Most CEOs want to see that a
unit is running at near full capacity and that volume is increasing year to
year. Analyze how your proposal will meet these demands by explaining the data
you have collected and predicting potential financial outcomes. Finally,
evaluate and explain how value-based care will impact your ability to maintain
margins within this newly proposed service.
Outpatient
If your proposed study has an outpatient
component, examine how admissions, revenue, and workflow of staff will improve
the efficiency of your proposed service. Analyze how your outpatient service
will add value for patients and improve the financial viability of the
institution. Justify your plan with appropriate data. As stated in the
inpatient section, the content here applies much the same way. However, the
caveat for outpatient services lies in the ambulatory setting. This aspect
should be most interesting under conditions created by the Affordable Care Act.
The new paradigm shift will be toward more preventative, primary, and
outpatient care settings to reduce the numbers of patients being admitted to hospitals.
Please explain how your proposal takes these conditions into consideration. In
this section, you will further compare and contrast economic challenges and
incentives among health care’s organization models in an outpatient setting.
You will also further augment your design in an economic framework that is
responsive to your market.
Outlook
This section examines future implications of your proposed services and
how they will impact the future health outcomes of the community and financial
health of the services being provided. Analyze economic theories that are
germane to the provision of your proposed health services. What adjustments
might you need to make in terms of what the “unintended consequences” may be?
For example, Baylor Hospital in Houston proposed and spent 250 million to
create a brand new hospital that currently stands empty because it was built
during the U.S. economic downturn, the loan was no longer able to finance the
construction, and the initial examination of its necessity did not play out as
expected. Provide conclusions and implications of how your feasibility study
fits within the larger context of the system of services currently being
provided. How do they work with one another within the larger health care
system? Finally, evaluate how your study will respond to market and design
models that impact the community based on current regulatory and market needs.
Finally, evaluate how your study will respond to market and design
models that impact the community based on current regulatory and market
needs.
