The perspective taken here is that such a focus, while urgent, often misses two important issues that, if not addressed, could negate or neutralize the benefits of reform and have broader long-term consequences. First, much of the focus of healthcare reform and affordable care has been on care 2011; Devers and Berenson, 2009). “accountable organizations” (ACOs) (Meyer, ACOs are the instrument through which Medicare reimbursement will occur and how providers are being encouraged to collaborate to achieve lower costs and higher quality. The focus has NOT been on how such organizations are to be designed and there is a dearth of research, case studies, and other efforts to describe the organization designs that will be necessary even – essential to meeting the objectives of healthcare reform. – Second, with the focus on the financial side of reform, environmental and social responsibility issues are receiving less attention. The healthcare industry, in the largest sense of the term, is responsible for an enormous amount of social and ecological consequences, both good and ill. An effective healthcare industry promises important improvements in the quality of life; but an ineffective industry destroys lives, families, and communities and dumps or leaves excessive amounts of toxins in the environment. By not attending to the design of the organizations that will deliver care and their ability to support or generate positive social and ecological consequences, we will have missed an important opportunity to affect change. The purpose of this chapter is to describe how the design concepts of agility, adaptability, and sustainability can be and Cummings, 1989) used as appropriate “design criteria” (Mohrman for healthcare systems. Although designing for agility and sustainability are addressed within a U.S. hospital system, the importance of the issues extends well beyond those borders. Sustaining economic, clinical, social, and ecological outcomes requires the ability to adapt no matter what the regional, regulatory, or cultural context. Healthcare systems everywhere can benefit from the
The perspective taken here is that such a focus, while urgent, often misses two important issues that, if not addressed, could negate or neutralize the benefits of reform and have broader long-term consequences. First, much of the focus of healthcare reform and affordable care has been on “accountable care organizations” (ACOs) (Meyer, 2011; Devers and Berenson, 2009). ACOs are the instrument through which Medicare reimbursement will occur and how providers are being encouraged to collaborate to achieve lower costs and higher quality. The focus has NOT been on how such organizations are to be designed and there is a dearth of research, case studies, and other efforts to describe the organization designs that will be necessary – even essential – to meeting the objectives of healthcare reform. Second, with the focus on the financial side of reform, environmental and social responsibility issues are receiving less attention. The healthcare industry, in the largest sense of the term, is responsible for an enormous amount of social and ecological consequences, both good and ill. An effective healthcare industry promises important improvements in the quality of life; but an ineffective industry destroys lives, families, and communities and dumps or leaves excessive amounts of toxins in the environment. By not attending to the design of the organizations that will deliver care and their ability to support or generate positive social and ecological consequences, we will have missed an important opportunity to affect change. The purpose of this chapter is to describe how the design concepts of agility, adaptability, and sustainability can be used as appropriate “design criteria” (Mohrman and Cummings, 1989) for healthcare systems. Although designing for agility and sustainability are addressed within a U.S. hospital system, the importance of the issues extends well beyond those borders. Sustaining economic, clinical, social, and ecological outcomes requires the ability to adapt no matter what the regional, regulatory, or cultural context. Healthcare systems everywhere can benefit from the
05-Chapter%202%20-%20Worley.docx