Instructions Case Scenario Analysis: you have been hired in the CAO’s newly created position (Chief Administrative Officer) for a regional medical center.
The responsibilities have been broken away from the COO (Chief Operational Officer) to focus primarily on all business and revenue generation activities.
You are a member of the hospital’s executive management team (Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operational Officer, Chief of the Clinical Staff (medical and nursing), Chief Information Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and Chief Quality and Risk Management Officer, and legal counsel. The hospital is a nonprofit.
The services provided within the hospital include cardiac rehabilitation, emergency department, radiology, pediatrics, same-day surgery, a retail pharmacy, ophthalmology and optical, oncology, limited physical rehabilitation, and physical therapy, patient education, substance abuse, renal dialysis, and obstetrics. The Joint Commission accredits the hospital with recertification in 2 years.
In your initial and informal strategic assessment, you felt several areas warranted further review, both under the Chief Compliance Officer. You were not because of any dereliction of responsibilities by the Chief Compliance Officer.
The foundation discussed was exclusively business and fiscally based:
1. The separated responsibilities of risk management, patient safety, and quality improvement from a business perspective.
2. The limited or defined methods and practices to minimize medical malpractice within the organization. Of specific concern were medical errors, adverse events, and hospital infections, even though there was no medical malpractice claim filed against the organization or any clinical provider.
In your discussion with the CEO, she asked for an inclusive memorandum of record back to her to address the following from a business case assessment.
You have been there long enough to know the CEO is thorough and bases her decisions on collaboration, data, facts, and legal authority with the two primary objectives of high quality of care minimizing risk to the organization. Hence, she expects your proposal to utilize supporting evidence.
1. Examine the responsibilities of process improvement, risk management, patient safety, and quality improvement in a healthcare organization from a business case perspective.
The CEO is explicitly asking, since there is a Chief Compliance Officer, how these responsibilities could be (or should be) the responsibility of both members of the C-suite or remain under the Chief Compliance Officer.
2. Propose specific risk reduction strategies to mitigate medical malpractice, medical errors, and healthcare-associated infections (HAI’s) from a business assessment. Again, use supporting evidence in your proposal to the CEO.
3. Knowing that these two responsibilities are multidisciplinary, recommend a C-suite and upper management ad hoc team by hospital positions to exam the items above for recommendations for process improvement teams. Support your recommendations with justification for industry standards or best practices