HIM 440 Module 7 Final Project Example

Final Project: Reliable, Accurate and Ready, a Three-Year Strategic Plan for Health Information at Kettle Creek

[Student Name]

Southern New Hampshire University

HIM 440: Management of Health Information Services

Final Project

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The organization, setting and figures below are a composite written as a model document. No real employer, client, colleague or patient is described.

Final Project: Reliable, Accurate and Ready, a Three-Year Strategic Plan for Health Information at Kettle Creek

Executive Summary

Kettle Creek Medical Center's health information department has the skills to be a strong partner for patient care, revenue and compliance, but slow flow from discharge to bill, delinquent records, coding accuracy below target and high turnover hold it back. This three-year plan sets four goals: reliable flow, accurate and compliant records, continuous accreditation readiness and a stable, engaged workforce. Each goal carries objectives with owners, dates and measures on a balanced scorecard. The plan requires two added positions, a market pay adjustment for coders and activation of an already licensed coding tool, at a first-year cost of about $214,000, and it asks the sponsor for approval and quarterly review.

Mission and Vision

The department's mission is to keep a complete, accurate and secure record for every patient and to make its information available to those entitled to it, promptly and fairly. Its vision for three years from now is a department that clinicians, finance and patients rely on without having to chase it: charts coded within three days, records complete at survey time every day and staff who choose to stay.

Environmental Scan

Inside the hospital, the Module Three analysis identified strengths in an experienced coding manager and credentialed staff and weaknesses in turnover, accuracy and delinquency. The Module Four process map showed that only 42 minutes of a 6.1-day journey from discharge to coding is hands-on work. Outside the hospital, several forces will shape the next three years. Payers are auditing coding more often, which raises the cost of errors. Computer-assisted coding and other automation tools are maturing, and Kettle Creek already licenses a module it has not activated. Remote work has widened the hiring pool but also the competition: Bloom et al. (2015) found in a randomized experiment that working from home raised productivity and cut attrition, which suggests that remote roles, well supported, can help retention rather than threaten it. Federal rules on information blocking and patient access continue to raise expectations for release of information, and the next accreditation survey is expected within the year.

Strategic Goals and Objectives

Table 1 sets out the four goals, their objectives, owners, target dates and measures. Measures are grouped on the balanced scorecard defined in Milestone One. Gurd and Gao (2008) found that health care organizations adapting the balanced scorecard added quality and patient perspectives to the financial view, which fits a department whose work affects all three.

Table 1. Strategic Goals, Objectives and Measures

Note. Goals and targets set by the planning team; composite organization.

How the Goals Fit Together

The goals support each other. Reliable flow depends on a stable workforce, since every vacancy lengthens the queue. Accuracy depends on complete documentation, which the flow redesign improves by releasing only complete charts to coders. Readiness depends on delinquency control, which also speeds coding. And workforce stability depends on staff seeing that the department's problems are being solved rather than pushed onto them. Mazzocato et al. (2010) found that Lean efforts in health care succeeded when organizations used them to build shared understanding and problem-solving habits rather than isolated tools, and this plan tries to do the same across all four goals.

Staffing and Budget

The plan adds a second coding educator and a data analyst who will maintain the scorecard and control charts, and it fills the two open coding positions. A market review found Kettle Creek's coder pay about 7% below regional rates, and the plan proposes closing that gap. First-year costs total about $214,000: $148,000 for the two added positions, $52,000 for the pay adjustment and $14,000 for scanners on nursing units and training. The expected return comes mainly from faster billing, since reducing unbilled days from 5.6 to 3.0 releases cash tied up in unbilled accounts, and from fewer payer takebacks as accuracy rises.

Leading the Change

The first module of this course showed what happens when a manager announces a change before involving staff. The plan therefore uses the planning team, including a remote coder and a hospitalist, as its guiding coalition and communicates through a monthly one-page scorecard shared with every group. Harrison et al. (2021) found that change models in health care work best combined with improvement methods, which is why each objective is tested through small cycles before it spreads. Leadership behavior matters as well. Shanafelt and Noseworthy (2017) describe how leaders who inform, ask for input, recognize work and support development are associated with lower burnout among those they lead, and the director and supervisors will be assessed on those behaviors in the staff engagement survey.

Risks

The plan faces four main risks. Budget approval for positions and pay may be delayed; if so, the pay adjustment takes priority because turnover drives other problems. Physicians may resist the discharge summary rule; the physician advisor will seek endorsement from the medical executive committee. Computer-assisted coding may not improve productivity as expected; it will be piloted on outpatient accounts with accuracy checks before any expansion. And the survey may arrive before readiness routines mature; monthly record reviews begin immediately for that reason.

Governance and Review

The chief financial officer will sponsor the plan and review the scorecard quarterly. The medical records committee will review delinquency and documentation measures monthly, and the quality committee will receive readiness measures. Once a year, the planning team will revisit the environmental scan and adjust goals, since three years is long enough for automation, payer rules and the labor market to change.

Conclusion

Kettle Creek's health information department does not need a single fix; it needs a plan that connects flow, accuracy, readiness and people. With four goals, defined measures, named owners, a realistic budget and a way of leading change that learned from its own early mistake, this plan aims to make the department reliable, accurate and ready within three years.

References

Bloom, N., Liang, J., Roberts, J., & Ying, Z. J. (2015). Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 130(1), 165-218. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qju032

Gurd, B., & Gao, T. (2008). Lives in the balance: An analysis of the balanced scorecard (BSC) in healthcare organizations. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 57(1), 6-21. https://doi.org/10.1108/17410400810841209

Harrison, R., Fischer, S., Walpola, R. L., Chauhan, A., Babalola, T., Mears, S., & Le-Dao, H. (2021). Where do models for change management, improvement and implementation meet? A systematic review of the applications of change management models in healthcare. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 13, 85-108. https://doi.org/10.2147/JHL.S289176

Mazzocato, P., Savage, C., Brommels, M., Aronsson, H., & Thor, J. (2010). Lean thinking in healthcare: A realist review of the literature. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 19(5), 376-382. https://doi.org/10.1136/qshc.2009.037986

Shanafelt, T. D., & Noseworthy, J. H. (2017). Executive leadership and physician well-being: Nine organizational strategies to promote engagement and reduce burnout. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 92(1), 129-146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2016.10.004