Keith Hovan is a healthcare executive with decades of clinical and administrative leadership experience. In the following article, Keith Hovan provides a broad overview of what should be considered critical aspects of healthcare management.
Healthcare management plays a critical role in delivering medical services to patients. Simply put, it involves the overseeing and delivery of healthcare resources. Effective healthcare management requires understanding forecasting, strategic planning, finance, and leadership.
This vital industry is rapidly evolving. Keith Hovan explains that healthcare organizations must adapt to this ever-changing environment to remain competitive and provide quality healthcare services to patients. To meet these goals, an understanding of healthcare management is essential.
By conceptualizing and embodying specific principles and practices, healthcare professionals at every level are empowered to develop the skills and expertise needed to manage healthcare resources effectively and provide quality healthcare services to everyone.
Keith Hovan on Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is the process of defining an organization’s vision, mission, and goals, and developing strategies to achieve them. In healthcare, Keith Hovan explains that this type of planning is critical to ensure that the organization is aligned with its mission and that its resources are used efficiently. This process involves identifying the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats – this is usually adopted into an acronym and dubbed a ‘SWOT analysis.’
Keith Hovan says that a SWOT analysis will also prove instrumental in developing cohesive strategies intended to capitalize on the detected strengths and opportunities. At the same time, it will allow leaders to proactively mitigate any potential weaknesses and threats.
According to the Journal of Healthcare Management, strategic planning is critical to healthcare organizations as it helps them adapt to changes in the healthcare environment, enhance competitive advantages, and improve their performance. In addition, it enables healthcare organizations to prioritize the deployment of resources, improve their decision-making processes, and ensure that they are meeting the needs of their patients and key stakeholders.
Strategic planning is an essential facet of healthcare management. It lays the groundwork for the development of financial and leadership key performance indicators (KPI’s).
Finance
Keith Hovan explains that finance is another essential aspect of healthcare management – it must be well managed so that a healthcare organization can ensure that it will be able to deliver services to all of those that it is charged to serve.
Robust financial management in healthcare involves meticulous, error-free billing and accounting. Therefore, all aspects of the organization’s accounting function should be carefully considered and closely monitored. These facets include budgeting, financial analysis, and revenue management, all of which must comply with applicable laws and regulations.
Proper management of financial assets is critical for healthcare organizations; it enables them to provide quality healthcare services to their patients while maintaining economic sustainability.
A study published in the International Journal of Health Planning and Management highlights the importance of financial management in healthcare organizations. Keith Hovan explains that the study continues to report that effective financial management enables healthcare organizations to identify and manage financial risks, improve their overall financial performance, and optimize resource allocation across all clinical specialties. 
Leadership
Effective leadership is critical to healthcare management as it enables healthcare organizations to achieve their goals and objectives. Aside from overseeing the day-to-day staffing and and resource deployment, impactful leadership involves inspiring and motivating healthcare professionals to provide the highest quality healthcare services to patients. When a healthcare environment is properly managed, Keith Hovan says that the professionals within are more likely to align with the organization’s mission and values.
Effective leadership is critical to the success of healthcare organizations, as it enables them to improve performance, innovate, and foster a positive work environment. In addition, it puts healthcare professionals in the position to develop their skills and expertise — ultimately benefiting patients.
Staffing Shortage in Healthcare Leadership
Keith Hovan explains that one of the key safety challenges facing hospitals in 2023 is overwhelming staffing shortages brought on by the pandemic and other economic and sociological changes. According to a report by the World Health Organization, there is a shortage of 7.2 million healthcare professionals globally, including doctors, nurses, and other professionals.
There are a miriad of reasons one could point to that leads to a shortage of nurses and doctors signing on to deliver care. The ramifications of an understaffed facility could be steep. As a result, healthcare leaders must develop strategies to attract and retain competent, vetted professionals. Doing so will ensure their organizations have the resources to provide quality healthcare services to patients.
Conclusion
As 2023 continues onward, effective healthcare management is critical to the success of these organizations. To be done correctly, organizations must harness a thorough understanding of various principles and practices, including strategic planning, finance, and impactful leadership. Through implementation and application of core principles of management, healthcare professionals can improve performance, enhance competitiveness, and provide quality healthcare services to their patients.
