Unit 1 DB Deliverable Length: 200­400 words + peer response Assignment Description: Primary Discussion Response is due by Friday (11:59:59pm Central), Peer Responses are due by Tuesday (11:59:59pm Central). Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 200–400 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas. Health care has evolved and changed over the years. As Director of Operations, you have been asked to speak to the Community Relations Committee of Healing Hands Hospital about how health care has changed over the past 50 years. In preparation for your presentation, you researched significant changes in the way health care is delivered in the United States, including changes in the business aspect of health care. Discuss and compare the following changes in your Discussion Board posting: How has health care changed in the past 50 years? Describe how public relations influenced the direction of health care. In what capacity. Discuss how the business components of health have changed. What are some strategic goals that healthcare organizations can implement as they prepare for the next 5­-10 years? Unit 1 Individual Project Deliverable Length: 2 pages, not including title or reference pages. Assignment Description: Note: All the work completed in the Individual Projects in Units 1­4 (weeks 1­4) will be incorporated and used in your Unit 5 IP final assignment, which is your “Report to the Task Force: The Future of Healing Hands Hospital”. Read the scenario that you will use for the Individual Projects in each week of the course. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has taken on a more visible role in health care delivery. Many changes have transpired to improve patient safety along with the implementation of additional quality metrics, and these changes impact reimbursement rates. Likewise, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has changed the reimbursement fee structure of Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for health care services. Other legislation including the HITECH Act and the Medicare Authorization and CHIP Reactivation Act of 2015 (MACRA) all impact how healthcare organizations receive reimbursement and demonstrate use of data to improve quality and delivery of patient care. Mr. Magone, CEO of Healing Hands Hospital, has asked you to join the “Future of Healing Hands” Task Force, and your first assignment is to work with the Hospital Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Johnson, and provide a summary of the current regulations regarding Medicare reimbursement including how MACRA will impact reimbursement if/when Healing Hands coordinates delivery of services by affiliating with physician practices. For this assignment, write a 2­page report, not including the title page and reference page, on how the new CMS initiatives and regulations will impact the organization’s revenue structure. This is Section 1 of your report to the Task Force. This first section should be titled “Impact of CMS Regulations and Reimbursement Models”. How does CMS impact the reimbursement model for Healing Hands Hospital and other health care organizations? If CMS reimbursement regulations for Medicare and Medicaid change, does it follow that other insurance providers change their policies on reimbursement? The CMS website on Innovation Models provides examples of healthcare payment and service delivery models designed to increase quality of care while reducing costs. Choose one example of ongoing or planned models for Accountable Care Organizations or Episode­Based Payment Initiatives and explain how participation in the models would be beneficial to Healing Hands Hospital. Be sure to include at least two reference sources and cite them using APA formatting. Unit 2 DB Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 300 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas. Consider the following scenario: You are currently working at a large academic medical center in an urban community. For the last several weeks, you have heard that other health care organizations are looking to build within a 10­mile radius of your organization. Your CEO has asked you to research the other organizations and how their services are similar and different to what a community based hospital such as Healing Hands Hospital currently offers. Discuss the following questions: What are some of the business and financial implications that may affect staffing, programs offered, and policies and procedures at community not­for­profit hospitals and large academic medical centers? How do those business and financial implications differ between the two organizations? What financial impact could occur if a for­profit ­organization builds within your community? What are some financial benefits of being an academic facility? Unit 2 IP Deliverable Length: 2 pages, not including a title or reference page. Assignment Description: Continue to use the scenario to assist you with this assignment. Healing Hands Hospital is an acute care community hospital that serves a suburban community outside of a large city with two competing large academic medical centers. Both Healing Hands Hospital and the academic medical centers have a long history of service to the region, but their business and fundamental practices are different. Your manager, Ms. Woods, Healing Hands’ Chief Operating Officer, is part of the Task Force working on the strategic plan for the hospital and needs to understand the fundamental practices of these academic medical centers. You have been asked to research the differences between the services that your organization offers and those of at least one of these academic medical centers. For the purposes of this assignment, use the Web to research community hospitals and academic medical centers and select one community hospital and one academic medical center located in the same city or area to represent these two healthcare organizations for the purpose of working on this assignment. You will use the information that you find about these two healthcare organizations for the Individual Project assignments in the remaining weeks of the course culminating in your final project in Week 5. Use the acute­care community hospital to represent Healing Hands Hospital. This link provides a list of example community hospitals. Choose one and then find an academic medical center located in the same geographic region. Review the Web information on these facilities to complete this assignment. 1. Describe the similarities and differences of these organizations in terms of the following: Mission Goals Objectives Management structure Reimbursement models Staffing Policies Procedures Research and clinical trials 2. Based on your analysis of the data that you present, provide your opinion on what would be the main areas of concern if the two organizations were to merge and how they could be overcome. You may include a table for the comparison data, but you must describe your evaluation of where there are and are not similarities between the two healthcare organizations and your opinion. Be sure to document your references using APA format. This includes the websites for the two hospitals that you are using for the assignment. This paper will be a part of the final project to be submitted in Unit 4 and 5. Label this week’s paper as “Report on the Future of Healing Hands” and this section will become Section 2 of the final assignment “Comparison of Healing Hands Hospital to Competitor in the Community”. Reference: Dyrda L., Rosen T., Wood, M., and Hoefner, M.. (2017). 100 Great community Hospitals Becker’s Hospital Review. Retrieved from https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/lists/100­great­community­hospitals­2017.html Unit 3 DB Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 200­300 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas. An area of concern in healthcare today is the ability of individuals to access care. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has developed many initiatives that tie reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to better quality of care and access to it. You have been asked by the Community Relations Committee of Healing Hands Hospital to evaluate how the hospital can improve access to healthcare resources by members of the community and create strategies to improve access to care within your geographic region. Discuss the barriers that patients experience when accessing health care resources. Why do barriers continue to exist when it comes to access and equal health care? What one measure could Healing Hands Hospital take to improve access to care for its community? Include 2 reference sources, besides the textbook, and be sure to document your references using APA format. Unit 3 IP Deliverable Length: 3 pages, not including title or reference pages. Assignment Description: Continue to use the scenario to assist you with this assignment. Managed care has had a profound impact on the way that health care is delivered and paid for in the United States. A large portion of Healing Hands Hospital’s revenue comes from managed care reimbursement making managed care a very important part of the business process. Part of the Task Force’s work will include obtaining feedback from the community and a public relations committee has been formed to help educate the community when decisions are made about changes to Healing Hands Hospital. Mr. Johnson, Healing Hands Chief Financial Officer, has asked you to help provide some training to the members of the public relations committee to help them understand managed care and other possible models for reimbursement including value­based reimbursement and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), so this can be included in their campaign of community education. Your report to Mr. Johnson should include: Identify two types of managed care plans, such as Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO) and how they impact the way that health care is delivered at Healing Hands Hospital. Discuss the future of managed care as a viable reimbursement model for Healing Hands Hospital compared to Accountable Care Organization model and valued based reimbursement. Through legislation such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and MACRA, there are regulations and requirements set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that are designed to improve patient quality of care and ensure highest levels of reimbursement. How do these laws impact Healing Hands Hospital and its financial plans? Mr. Johnson, like all healthcare management professionals, believes that the data and information presented must be backed by good research and the reference sources must be listed appropriately in the written report. Be sure to include at least three references for the information presented in your report using APA formatting. Remember to title this paper “The Role of Managed Care and Other Models for Reimbursement”. This will be section 3 of your final project submitted in Unit 4 and 5. Unit 4 DB -400 words As part of your work with the Task Force, you have been asked to provide a brief description of personalized medicine as a trend in delivery of healthcare that is specific to the individual patient. Your response should include: A definition of the term personalized medicine A specific example of personalized medicine Your opinion on whether the advances to date in personalized medicine makes sense for Healing Hands Hospital from the perspective of clinical staff knowledge in this field, ability of the current EHR systems to accommodate genetic information, potential risks related to access to a patient’s genetic information. Also consider whether it is a reimbursable service. Include 2 reference sources, besides the textbook, and be sure to document your references using APA format. Unit 4 IP Deliverable Length: 2 pages of new content, not including a title or reference page Assignment Description: Key Assignment Draft Part 1 Tasks This is Part 1 of the Key Assignment. It covers all objectives from Weeks 1–3 and new topics and objectives in Week 4. This is the draft of your Final Report to Mr. Magone and Healing Hands Task Force. You will complete it in Unit 5. Compile the Unit 1, 2 and 3 Individual Project assignments as these are Sections 1, 2, and 3 of your final report to the Task Force. Then add on the new section of material, which should have the Section header of “Innovations in Healthcare Technology” Continue to use the scenario to assist you with this assignment. One of the areas of concern to Mr. Magone and the senior leadership of Healing Hands Hospital is the integration and adoption of information technology systems that would be needed if the hospital consolidated with a large health system or added more outpatient services or expanded into telemedicine. As a member of the Task Force support team, you have been asked to research and discuss current and future advances and issues related to information technology in healthcare. This would include integration concerns with the Healing Hands Hospital’s current electronic health record system (EHRs), new models of decision support systems, and telemedicine with wearable tracking and smartphone linked devices. Discuss the issues in health information technology advances that will impact Healing Hands Hospital in the future with possible consolidation/expansion and the impact on quality of care and reimbursement for provided services. Include the following information in your paper: Future health care reimbursement trends impacted by information technology such as big data analytics and decision support systems. Information system technologies and issues with interoperability and scalability. Innovations in telemedicine and tracking devices. Add this information to your draft final report that incorporates the reports prepared in Units 1­3 IP assignments. This will be the basis for your final report to be submitted in Unit 5. Be sure to include at least three reference sources besides the textbook and use APA formatting. Unit 5 DB Summative Discussion Board Review and reflect on the knowledge you have gained from this course. Based on your review and reflection, write at least 100 words on the following: What were the most compelling topics learned in this course? How did participating in discussions help your understanding of the subject matter? Is anything still unclear that could be clarified? What approaches could have yielded additional valuable information? Did your work in the course help to reinforce the knowledge about the healthcare industry and healthcare management that you have obtained in prior courses in your degree program? Unit 5 IP Deliverable Length: Part 1: 11 pages (2 pages are new content); Part 2: 2 paragraph memo to Ms Woods Assignment Description: Key Assignment Final Paper – Report of Findings to Mr. Magone, CEO, Healing Hands Hospital and the “Future of Healing Hands” Task Force Continue to use the scenario to assist you with this assignment. There are two parts to this assignment: Part 1: Using your instructor’s feedback and suggestions from Week 4, complete your final draft of the Key Assignment, Report to the Future of Healing Hands Task Force. Add the following analysis to complete your report, which will consist of: Your Week 4 Individual Project submission of approximately 9 pages And add to it the two page Unit 5’s IP written analysis. The final Paper submission should be approximately 11 pages in length. Add the following written analysis to your Week 4 Individual Project document: Mr. Magone and the senior leadership of Healing Hands Hospital understand the importance of evaluating operational performance in the healthcare industry and its impact not only on the patient satisfaction but also maintaining sound financial management. This is increasingly important in the era of value­based care including Medicare’s Quality Payment Program. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis of data related to patient care is needed. This data includes average length of stay, readmission rates, mortality rates, and compliance with standard of care guidelines. As part of the Task Force you have been asked to research and analyze data regarding 1) length of stay and 2) hospital acquired infections and the impact of both metrics on the hospital budget and reimbursement. As reimbursement payments become increasingly linked to quality of care, it is important for Healing Hands Hospital to continue to improve in these areas. You have been asked to help the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Nursing Officer evaluate these aspects of patient care as part of your report to Mr. Magone and the Task Force. Submit your final paper incorporating your Unit 1­4 Individual Project topics (8 pages) including the analysis (2 pages) of how Healing Hands Hospital compares to other hospitals in the nation, state and region in: Average length of stay Hospital acquired infection rate Describe how these statistics impact the organization’s budget and reimbursement opportunities in the future. Be sure to include how Medicare reimbursement will be impacted. For your research, remember to use the hospital that you chose to represent the fictitious Healing Hands Hospital and use data for the same state and region for comparison in your analysis. For the final paper reference list, be sure to include all of the reference sources besides the textbook identifying where you found your data on hospital statistics and add this to your references for the other sections of your final paper from the previous week’s assignments. Document your references using APA format. With the compiling of your Units 1­4 Individual Projects and this one for Unit 5, you should have at least an 10 page paper with five separate sections as identified from each week of the course. Part 2: Note this part of the Unit 5 IP is a separate submission. This is in the form of a 2 paragraph memo. Being asked to be part of the Task Force was recognition of your abilities and value to Healing Hands Hospital. When you started to work on the Task Force, you were not an expert in all of the aspects of the healthcare industry on which you were asked to report. Your manager, Ms. Woods, the Chief Operating Officer, recognizes this and that you had not previously had the opportunity to present to the Chief Executive Officer and other members of the executive team. She tells you that this is a good opportunity to develop skills as a professional and expand your expertise level in the healthcare field. She is curious about how you feel about the opportunity and what skills you feel you already had and those that you developed in this process. She also would like to know what skills you feel you still need to develop to continue to advance in your healthcare management career. Write a 2 paragraph memo to Ms. Woods that answers her questions and reflect on your professional development through the work that you did for the Task Force (as a part of this course) and how you will continue to maintain your acquired skills and knowledge base.