Strategic Planning For 2020
Shalby Hospitals (Shalby Limited), established by Dr Vikram I Shah in 1994 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, operates a chain of multispecialty hospitals across India, holding an aggregate bed capacity of over 2000 hospital beds. It is important to define the doable for strategic plans. Maintaining realistic goals and plans help hospitals make real operational changes, while spending time on unrealistic targets will hamper the success of hospitals. In the current environment, identifying feasible strategies can be particularly challenging. A short-term goal would require more regular tracking and assessment of results, such as weekly, while long-term targets can be checked on a quarterly basis, regardless of the duration of the review.
Unless there are sound financial and organizational plans in motion, the goals set by an organization cannot be achieved. Sadly, when the environment is so complex, it is tricky to understand the healthcare market. The costs of medical technology and other funds needed to run a viable healthcare business are not predictable. In order to stay afloat for any company, especially a hospital or medical practice, long-term goals need to be determined and eventually met for the business’ survival. There are a few areas where we as a group shall be working specifically to achieve our targets;
Cost accounting. We shall be enhancing value by producing excellent results that are meaningful for patients while lowering the cost of treatment per capita and anticipating changes in the changing healthcare climate. We should continue to seek ways to achieve exceptional results for our patients, and we must function as efficiently as possible to continue to expand our capacity to provide for the disadvantaged people in our community. Our emphasis on value translates into proactive action that starts with system-wide changes in our daily business processes and patient procedures so that our patients and employees face less challenges and delays.
Company culture. The purpose of culture is clear throughout the planning process – to enhance our ability to exceed patient expectations and to alleviate patient suffering. Supporting recruitment and creation of a loving, compassionate, and dedicated workforce is more important than ever for the sustainability of Shalby. We believe in including the entire staff in the development and implementation of action plans to give them a sense of ownership and keep them engaged in the big picture.
Learning and development. We shall be developing outstanding training, learning, and research opportunities with a focus on improving our patient population’s care. Shalby’s dedication to excellence in medical education and health professionals’ growth has never been greater. Our working partnerships with the Indian Institute of Public Healthcare and other training programs ensure that the learning environment of Shalby plays an important role in introducing trainees to the specific and often complicated situations that patients in need face every day. Shifting from the old-school teaching module, we have designed high-end healthcare management programs, using contemporary teaching methods to build interest and encourage inquisition.
Clinical research. On the research front, we plan to invest in developing a more comprehensive system at Shalby – one that will help physicians, nurses, and other key practitioners pursuing research goals focused on reducing health inequalities, preventing and treating chronic disease, or relieving distress in the communities we represent. Shalby has an integrated clinical research unit at our hospital and we would like to expand our clinical research activities. We firmly believe that quality begins at the research site as also in the mind of the investigator, and assurance of uncompromising quality is what we all are aspiring for.
Expanding outreach. Currently two of our units are serving majority part of South Gujarat. In the coming year, we shall be targeting the northern part of Maharashtra as well. We shall be serving the periphery of Surat and Vapi, such as Bardoli, Navsari, Ankleshwar, Kosamba, Vyara, Nandurbar, and Dahanu, through our outreach activities such as camps and satellite clinics.
