09 Jul Our discussion this week will allow you to see the connection between the strategic planning process and the role of the health care financial manager.

Our discussion this week will allow you to see the connection between the strategic planning process and the role of the health care financial manager. 

Before you participate in this weeks discussion, you will need to read “Explanation of Research Required for this Week’s Discussion Board” posted in this week’s course module.

When you have completed your research, please prepare your original post using the following structured format:

1. Name of Selected Organization:
2. Location:
3. Brief Description of the Selected Organization (in your own words!):
4. Mission Statement for the Organization (exactly as stated by the organization):
5. Values of the Organization (as stated by the organization):
6. Brief Description of a Specific Current Strategic Initiative: (Remember, a strategic initiative is a particular project that achieves a strategic goal.)
7. An explanation of how the organizations Mission and Values (stated in #4 and #5) are supported by the strategic initiative that you identified in #6.
8. An explanation of the types of tasks that might be performed by a financial manager assigned to the strategic initiative that you selected in #6.  

Remember, you must research a specific health care organization and identify a specific strategic initiative.

Explanation of Research Required for this Week’s Discussion Board

This week you are responsible for conducting in-depth research related to strategic planning in health care organizations.  The research that you complete will be used to meet the requirements of your discussion board participation.  Here are the guidelines for your research:

1. Select a health care organization that is not discussed in Chapter 24 or in the Required Resources material.
2. Explore the organization’s six major components of strategic planning as identified in Figure 24-1 on page 274 of the eText.
   1. You should be able to easily identify the organization’s Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals using readily available web-based resources.  If you are unable to identify all of these four components, you will need to select a new organization.
   2. You may not be able to easily identify the organization’s Objectives and Action Plans as easily.  This is because this information is often not publicly available or strictly confidential.  You may need to infer these two components, based on the next step in your research process.
3. Identify a current or recent strategic initiative for your selected organization.  Remember, a strategic initiative is a particular projectthat achieves a strategic goal. Research this initiative until you are clear about the description of the initiative, the time-frame of the initiative, the purpose of the initiative, the rationale for the initiative, and the anticipated/achieved outcomes.  As you conduct your research, think about the who-what-where-when-why of the initiative so that you are sure that you have gathered all of the necessary information.

When you have completed your research, it will be time to present your findings in the discussion board.  The requirements of your original discussion board post can be found in the discussion board prompt.