Developing a Business Case
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Developing a Business Case
Health care organizations optimize outcomes if they have adequate human, financial, and technological resources to support their everyday activities. Since most activities depend on an organization’s finances, forward-thinking organizations should be highly innovative and actively engaged in revenue-generating initiatives. In this case, they should be continually involved in internal and external environments’ scanning, identify economic opportunities, and exploit the viable openings appropriately. Detailed risk analysis is crucial to avoid making regrettable mistakes. This paper analyzes the benefits and risks of the proposed initiative to examine its viability, effects on community health care delivery, and cost control.
Potential Economic Opportunities and Risks
The proposed initiative involves a partnership with the local association of greengrocers. The association is routinely involved in community health programs such as awareness of healthy eating and living, and the partnership will expand the scope of the current programs to reach more people. Through the partnership, the organization is expected to promote healthy living and reduce hospital visits, screen at-risk populations and earn revenue through patients’ referrals. Nurses and other health care professionals engaged in the program will earn a salary from it. The opportunity will also improve the organization’s reputation, further improving its competitiveness.
Despite these opportunities and the associated growth potential, several risks are associated with the opportunity. The first possible risk is straining the current workforce since many health care professionals will be involved in the partnership. A significant proportion of the current nursing staffing will serve both organization’s and the initiative’s roles. The double engagement can affect patient care adversely since patients will not be receiving care consistently from the same health care providers. The strain is also likely to overwhelm the current workforce mentally and physically, a risk to nursing burnout, a leading cause of workforce turnover in health care settings (Willard-Grace et al., 2019). Financial strain is also possible since technology, training, and workforce support require substantial financial support. Straining the organization can make it unable to sustain some of the current programs, adversely affecting health care outcomes and organizational sustainability. The current financial reserve cannot match the capital expenditure required to fully fund the initiative. This is a gap that needs to be addressed to avoid engaging in a project that will not achieve the projected long-term benefits. The organization’s management should also develop mechanisms to overcome possible competition from other organizations likely to engage in similar programs.
A cost-benefit analysis over five years shows that the opportunities are expected to benefit the organization immensely. The capital cost for the initiative is $33,100 for the first year and will reduce gradually over the five years. Benefits, including patient services revenue and salaries that the employees will earn are projected at $28,500 in the first year and increase gradually as patient visits increase due to increased referrals. The organization is expected to start generating revenue from the second year. A five-year projection (2022-2026) shows that the organization will make up to $171, 615.54 in five years (Appendix A). Generally, the initiative is projected to be a source of revenue to sustain the organization’s operations through patient referrals. The health care staff involved will also get a chance to supplement its income. The improved reputation will be pivotal in improving the organization’s image. Risks threaten the organization’s financial security since the program will depend on strained resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the technologies required for screening, education, and communication are expensive. Despite the risks, the opportunity is sensible since most of the expenses are capital expenditures that will be recovered within five years (Appendix A).
Ethical and Culturally Sensitive Solutions
Risks are inevitable in capital-intensive projects, and effective solutions are crucial to avoid project failure. The same case applies to the proposed partnership. A practical ethical and culturally sensitive solution is more innovativeness by integrating technology as much as possible. For instance, printed education materials should be minimal as the target population receives digitized information more. The initiative’s key success indicator will be increased patient visits. The organization must serve many patients to break even. As a result, intensified campaigns about the program are necessary to ensure that the targeted community is more aware of it. The other practical intervention is to be inclusive in approach and target the entire population instead of a specific segment of the community. Doing so will attract many people into the program hence more patient referrals. The organization should also consider external financial support, particularly from donors. Straining the workforce is the most significant risk due to the possibility of nurse burnout (Shah et al., 2021). It should be controlled by all means possible. A suitable intervention is an employee motivation program that includes rewards and incentives. All stakeholders should be involved in every phase of the initiative and updated accordingly to earn their maximum support.
Modifying the Proposed Initiative
Several modifications can be made to the proposed initiative to mitigate the mentioned risks. One of the reasonable modifications is to execute the project in phases. For instance, screening, home visitations, and awareness should be done separately. The organization should also consider using volunteers and nurses under internship to reduce expenses. Organizations have dealt with similar risks through avoidance, where activities that pose a significant financial threat are avoided entirely (Hessami, 2019). Transference is also considered and involves shifting the risk to another party. The proposed interventions are ethical and factor equality since they do not burden or disadvantage any group. Indeed, the primary objective is maximizing the potential and benefits to all groups.
Effects on Community Health Care Delivery
The initiative will create an informed community that seeks medical help when needed. It will also encourage preventive health, implying that the community’s overall illness burden will reduce. Preventive health is crucial in communities since it makes people more productive and reduces health disparities (Levine et al., 2019). As a result, the community will be more involved in economic development since the healthy and productive population will increase (Fournier & Karachiwalla, 2020). Issues that need consideration include the sustainability of the partnership and other practices that can be incorporated into the partnership to enhance outcomes. The legal aspect of the interventions should be evaluated in detail too.
Economic Costs and Benefit Analysis
As a capital intensive initiative, a huge cost will be involved to initiate the program. As illustrated in the cost-benefit analysis template (Appendix A), costs associated with the initiative include education materials, home visitations, screening technologies and activities, communication, and workforce support at $182,045.32. Benefits over the five years include health care staff earnings, revenue from patient services after referrals, and saved health care costs due to preventive health at $253,660.86. The findings should be considered during the organization’s strategic planning.
Keeping Costs under Control
Controlling costs is an effective way of increasing a project’s sustainability. As earlier mentioned, involving volunteers and seeking donor support can reduce financial risks. The same approaches can be used to control costs. Besides, progressive cost analysis is crucial to identify practices that can be replaced or avoided if they burden the project in terms of costs. Generally, costs associated with education and awareness are the most likely to control by incorporating technology more in communication and community education. Controlling the costs will automatically maximize benefits since the saved costs will be used in other areas that maximize positive outcomes. A risk-ethical analysis should be done to all proposed cost control to ensure that it is ethical and equitable. All the concerned parties should be engaged too.
Evidence Analysis
The business case has been supported by quantitative and qualitative economic, financial, and scholarly evidence. The quantitative evidence (the economic and financial projections- Appendix A) is based on current market prices of services and products and shows that the initiative is a valuable investment. Qualitative evidence reveals that the organization will benefit from the initiative due to the availability of a gap in the market. Scholarly evidence supports the initiative as a viable economic opportunity to benefit the organization in the long run. It also explains the potential outcomes and risks that should be avoided.
Conclusion
Since they depend on revenue to sustain their operations, health care organizations should be perpetually involved in revenue-generating activities. Exploiting economic opportunities in their internal and external environments is highly encouraged, provided that the strategies used are ethical, legal, and suitable. The proposed initiative is expected to earn the organization considerable revenue over the five years. However, improvements should be made as time advances to achieve better results. For instance, better technologies should be used in place of the current communication tools as times necessitate.
References
Fournier, B., & Karachiwalla, F. (2020). Public health and preventive health care in Canada e-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Hessami, A. G. (Ed.). (2019). Perspectives on risk, assessment and management paradigms. BoD–Books on Demand.
Levine, S., Malone, E., Lekiachvili, A., & Briss, P. (2019). Health care industry insights: Why the use of preventive services is still low. Preventing Chronic Disease, 16. http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd16.180625
Shah, M. K., Gandrakota, N., Cimiotti, J. P., Ghose, N., Moore, M., & Ali, M. K. (2021). Prevalence of and factors associated with nurse burnout in the US. JAMA Network Open, 4(2), e2036469-e2036469. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.36469
Willard-Grace, R., Knox, M., Huang, B., Hammer, H., Kivlahan, C., & Grumbach, K. (2019). Burnout and health care workforce turnover. Annals of Family Medicine, 17(1), 36–41. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.2338
Appendices
Appendix A: Cost-Benefit Analysis
| Costs | Current Year (CY) | CY +1 | CY +2 | CY +3 | CY +4 | CY +5 | Total Costs |
| Education and awareness materials | $ 3,600.00 | $ 3,600.00 | $ 3,600.00 | $ 3,600.00 | $ 3,600.00 | $ 3,600.00 | |
| Technologies | $ 8,000.00 | $ 8,000.00 | $ 8,000.00 | $ 8,000.00 | $ 8,000.00 | $ 8,000.00 | |
| Screening | $ 3,500.00 | $ 3,500.00 | $ 3,500.00 | $ 3,500.00 | $ 3,500.00 | $ 3,500.00 | |
| Communication and program’s campaigns | $ 4,000.00 | $ 4,000.00 | $ 4,000.00 | $ 4,000.00 | $ 4,000.00 | $ 4,000.00 | |
| Home visitations | $ 7,000.00 | $ 7,000.00 | $ 7,000.00 | $ 7,000.00 | $ 7,000.00 | $ 7,000.00 | |
| Orientation and training | $ 1,500.00 | $ – | $ – | $ – | $ – | $ – | |
| Workforce support | $ 5,500.00 | $ 5,500.00 | $ 5,500.00 | $ 5,500.00 | $ 5,500.00 | $ 5,500.00 | |
| Total Costs (Future Value) | $ 33,100.00 | $ 31,600.00 | $ 31,600.00 | $ 31,600.00 | $ 31,600.00 | $ 31,600.00 | |
| Total Costs (Present Value) | $ 33,100.00 | $ 30,980.39 | $ 30,372.93 | $ 29,777.39 | $ 29,193.52 | $ 28,621.09 | $ 182,045.32 |
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| Benefits | Current Year (CY) | CY +1 | CY +2 | CY +3 | CY +4 | CY +5 | Total Benefits |
| Patient services’ revenue | $ 20,000.00 | $ 30,000.00 | $ 40,000.00 | $ 50,000.00 | $ 60,000.00 | $ 70,000.00 | |
| Health care staff salary | $ 5,000.00 | $ 10,000.00 | $ 15,000.00 | $ 15,000.00 | $ 15,000.00 | $ 25,000.00 | |
| Saved costs | $ 3,500.00 | $ 3,500.00 | $ 3,500.00 | $ 3,500.00 | $ 3,500.00 | $ 3,500.00 | |
| Total Benefits (Future Value) | $ 28,500.00 | $ 43,500.00 | $ 58,500.00 | $ 68,500.00 | $ 78,500.00 | $ 98,500.00 | |
| Total Benefits (Present Value) | $ 28,500.00 | $ 42,647.06 | $ 56,228.37 | $ 64,549.08 | $ 72,521.87 | $ 89,214.48 | $ 353,660.86 |
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| Present Value Discount Rate | 2% | ||||||
| PV Denominator | 1.00 | 1.02 | 1.04 | 1.06 | 1.08 | 1.10 | |
| Net Benefit | $ 171,615.54 | ||||||