HealthPartners merged with Park Nicollet Health Services in 2013, and the organization has undergone a significant strategic shift because of the merger (HealthPartners, 2014). The purpose of this project is to state what impact the strategic shift had on the progress of this non-profit health care provider. Thus, the focus is on discussing changes in goals and the mission; on the role of leadership in the process; on the company’s approach to partnerships; on the reasons to merge; and on the impact of the merger as a key to discuss the effectiveness of the strategic shift (Swayne, Duncan, & Ginter, 2009, p. 221). The integration of cultures and changes in coordination and delivery of care are important aspects to discuss the impact at the current stage of the research.
Annotated Bibliography
Boffeli, T., Thongvanh, K., Evans, S., & Ahrens, C. (2012). Patient experience and physician productivity: Debunking the mythical divide at HealthPartners clinics. The Permanente Journal, 16(4), 19-25.
The authors of the article are practitioners and specialists if the field of Healthcare Administration who aim to discuss productivity and patient satisfaction in context of HealthPartners clinics. The research conducted before the merger is used to identify the impact of the strategic shift and changes in the work of doctors and in health outcomes.
Chreim, S., Williams, B., & Coller, K. (2012). Radical change in healthcare organization. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 26(2), 215-236.
The researchers’ purpose is to discuss the role of the radical change in transforming the delivery of healthcare organizations. The research is up-to-date, and it is significant to provide the context for discussing the issue of the strategic shift.
Creasy, T., & Kinard, J. (2013). Health care mergers and acquisitions: Implications of robbers cave realistic conflict theory and prisoner’s dilemma game theory. Health Care Management, 32(1), 58-68.
Creasy and Kinard are specialists in the health care, and they discuss the choice of mergers to improve organizations’ performance. The article is recent and based on the case studies to compare with the situation in HealthPartners.
Isham, G., Zimmerman, D., Kindig, D., & Hornseth, G. (2013). HealthPartners adopts community business model to deepen focus on nonclinical factors of health outcomes. Health Affairs, 32(8), 1446–1452.
In their recent article, specialists in the sphere of Healthcare Administration discuss how HealthPartners develop the strategic business plan and why they choose creating partnerships to promote the community health.
Zismer, D. (2013). How might a reforming U.S. healthcare marketplace threaten balance sheet liquidity for community health systems? Journal of Healthcare Management, 58(3), 168-172.
Zismer, Professor in Healthcare Administration, discusses how the U.S. healthcare system adapts to the prevalence of acquisitions and mergers in order to address the issue of the liquidity destruction. The source published in the reputable journal is up-to-date and important to be referred to while discussing benefits of cooperation strategies.
Zuckerman, A. (2011). Healthcare mergers and acquisitions: Strategies for consolidation. Frontiers of Health Services Management, 27(4), 3-12.
In his article, Zuckerman, a consultant in the sphere of choosing strategies for healthcare organizations, discusses the effectiveness of mergers to transform healthcare delivery and to make the organization stronger. The article is written in 2011, and it includes up-to-date advice on benefiting from the merger.
Criteria
Two main criteria used to evaluate the sources are authority and currency. Much attention was paid to evaluating the credibility of the source with the focus on the author, his experience in the field, and on the publisher’s reputation. With the focus on currency, the sources were evaluated in relation to the date of publishing. Up-to-date information was selected.
Potential Obstacles and Challenges
At the current stage of the project development, barriers and challenges associated with the research process include the necessity to analyze a lot of the financial information and numerical data in order to conclude about the changes in the organization’s work. The next challenge is associated with the necessity to analyze how the merger influenced such aspects in the organization’s development as the mission, delivery of care, and training of specialists. If some changes are noticeable, and they can be easily analyzed, the other changes in the organization’s strategy are less noticeable, and it is important to find more corporate information on the issue to draw conclusions.
References
Boffeli, T., Thongvanh, K., Evans, S., & Ahrens, C. (2012). Patient experience and physician productivity: debunking the mythical divide at HealthPartners clinics. The Permanente Journal, 16(4), 19-25.
Chreim, S., Williams, B., & Coller, K. (2012). Radical change in healthcare organization. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 26(2), 215-236.
Creasy, T., & Kinard, J. (2013). Health care mergers and acquisitions: Implications of robbers cave realistic conflict theory and prisoner’s dilemma game theory. Health Care Management, 32(1), 58-68.
HealthPartners. (2014). Web.
Isham, G., Zimmerman, D., Kindig, D., & Hornseth, G. (2013). HealthPartners adopts community business model to deepen focus on nonclinical factors of health outcomes. Health Affairs, 32(8), 1446–1452.
Swayne, L. E., Duncan, W. J., & Ginter, P. M. (2009). Strategic management of health care organizations. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Zismer, D. (2013). How might a reforming U.S. healthcare marketplace threaten balance sheet liquidity for community health systems? Journal of Healthcare Management, 58(3), 168-172.
Zuckerman, A. (2011). Healthcare mergers and acquisitions: Strategies for consolidation. Frontiers of Health Services Management, 27(4), 3-12.