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Blog spotlight: Determining financial goals and objectives

Nurse Leader Weekly, October 10, 2011

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It is common for highly driven organizations to develop goals and objectives annually. In healthcare, just as in many businesses today, rules, regulations, customers, workforce, and technology are changing at such a rapid pace that it is impossible to effectively operationalize goals for further than a one- to five-year period. At the senior level of leadership, goals are developed in conjunction with the board of trustees and senior leaders of the organization. A complete assessment of the community, the patients, physicians, employees, and services is reviewed.

In addition to internal assessment, much attention should be paid to external factors affecting the organization. This is important in every market but particularly important in markets with more than one facility that offers similar services. If the competition across town is the known market leader in one service line, does it make sense to compete for the patient population? In some cases the answer to this question will be yes, and in some cases the answer will be no. Some of the factors affecting this decision include:

• Number of patients in the market
• Quality of the competition's service
• Expense to provide the service
• Reimbursement for the service
• Projected life of the technology or equipment

Let's assume that your competitor is providing a very highly specialized cancer radiation treatment program.

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