The Scale Imperative for Academic Medical Centers: Part 1 & 2

by Alan M. Zuckerman, Retired Veralon Director & Chair; and Robert N. Golden, MD
Journal of Healthcare Management
Jan/Feb 2014

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Alan Zuckerman, FACHE, FAAHC, Retired Veralon Director & Chair Robert N. Golden, MD, Robert Turrell professor in medical leadership, dean of the School of Medicine and Public Health, and vice chancellor for medical affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Balancing Cost Reduction and Growth

by Katherine Cwiek & Danielle DiPersia

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The challenges faced by the healthcare industry require healthcare organizations to reduce costs. Yet many organizations are determined to grow, and doing both simultaneously may seem counterintuitive. Yet the two imperatives are not necessarily at odds. Growth is typically seen as the product of investment. And reducing costs can itself require the investment of organizational […]

Scenario Planning: Preparing for Unforeseen Events

Future uncertainty of the health care environment is creating unprecedented challenges for health care organizations. To manage  risk in uncertain times, scenario planning, which helps organizations adapt more successfully to unexpected future conditions, is an effective tool to incorporate into the strategic planning process. There are two potential approaches to incorporate scenario planning into the […]

Strategic Planning Process Highlight: The External Assessment

A complete strategic plan will always include an external assessment.  The external assessment should examine the organization’s historical performance as it relates to its respective marketplace, including analysis of the market’s historical performance as well as anticipated future trends and forecasts.  The external assessment has five main components: 1.  Review of demographic, economic, and health […]

What is Strategic Thinking?

For organizations to insert creativity, intuition, a future orientation, and new perspectives into its strategic planning process, strategic thinking is required. It is the type of thinking that attempts to determine what an organization should look like in the future. Strategic thinkers ask questions such as: “What are we doing now that we should stop […]

How Do You Ensure Participation in the Strategic Planning Process?

Participation and collaboration are not only ideal in any strategic planning process, they are essential.  In previous posts, we’ve discussed the importance of having a variety of stakeholders throughout your organization participate in the strategic planning process to gain buy-in for the final plan.  Just as important in knowing who to have participate, is knowing […]