Indiana University of Pennsylvania Webster Health System Case Study

Getting Started

“Case 5: Webster Health System” describes an osteopathic-based hospital system that employs 704 personnel. This week’s assignment addresses elements from your previous course work in human resource management, ethical and legal aspects of management, and governance. It is designed to assess your competence in human resource management, healthcare personnel management, impacts and consequences of internal decision making, and organizational climate and culture, all of which are competencies identified by employers and recognized by the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE).

Upon successful completion of the course material, you will be able to:

• Evaluate healthcare personnel management capabilities for continued organizational growth.
• Evaluate potential impacts and consequences of decision making in internal situations.
• Support a commitment to Christ-like character in healthcare industry interactions.
• Integrate critical analysis to ensure healthcare organizational success.

---

Resources

• Textbook: The Middleboro Casebook: Healthcare Strategy and Operations
• Website: OCLS

---

Background Information

Managing an organization’s human resources is a complex task. Webster Health System is faced with two situations that are not uncommon to healthcare organizations in today’s environment: the aging provider population and ensuring the governing body is held to the same standards since staff is a concern. Your job is to provide direction to Webster in how to tackle these situations.

---

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. Read “Case 5: Webster Health System” in the textbook.
3. You will be developing a case review report to address some highlighted issues.
   1. The data needed for analysis is included in the case study.
      1. You should utilize this data to provide quantitative justification for your conclusions.
   2. There needs to be, where appropriate, analysis of the data that supports your responses.
      1. Short answers to the questions will not be enough.
4. The report should be approximately five to seven pages in length (including memorandum).
   1. It is to include a properly formatted title and reference page.
   2. Be sure to use proper APA formatting for headings and citation of tables and graphs.
5. Address the following questions and provide appropriate quantitative justification to support your conclusions and recommendations:
   1. The organization is concerned about the increasing age of its medical staff. Assuming that physicians will exit practice by age 70, indicate the physicians by specialty and location who may need to be replaced within the next five years.
      1. Can we establish age restrictions for members of our medical staff?
      2. Current medical staff bylaws make no mention of age restriction. How do we handle physicians who are becoming impaired due to age?
      3. What are the legal and ethical considerations that need to be addressed?
      4. What Christ-like characteristics apply in this situation?
   2. Osteopathic Hospitals of America (OHA) has announced a campaign to ban smoking in all of its affiliated hospitals. OHA has indicated that beginning in 2019, any affiliation agreement with a member hospital will require that member hospital ban smoking as a condition of employment and annually test all employees for evidence of smoking. Once the ban is established, new employees are subject to discharge if they test positive for smoking. Employees who currently smoke will be given 12 months to comply with the ban or be discharged under state laws involving at-will employees. The intent of this law is to stop hiring any smokers and set an appropriate example to the public. Webster is concerned that this policy does not cover trustees and affiliated physicians.
      1. What should Webster do and why?
   3. Prepare a three to five page memo that describes this potential change to our board and its potentially positive and negative impacts on Webster Hospital.
      1. The memo should include a recommendation and action plan.
      2. The three to five page memo will count toward the total of five to seven pages required for this assignment.
6. Turn in your case review report to the instructor by using the Assignment submission page by the end of the workshop.

This submission gives 100 points and highest for the course.