Assignment

While all business structures are different, they share similar basic designs. All have their own missions and vision, provide certain services or products, have a strategic plan and some sort of governing body and managers, and have a specific population they intend to serve. Health care is no different.

Prepare for this assignment by gleaning some additional insight from real health care managers. You may find short interviews with health care managers by searching Web sites such as Executives in Action, and by reading the following chapters from your course text, Introduction to U.S. Health Care:

Chapter 1, "The U.S. Health Care System"

Chapter 2, "Boards and Governance"

Locate a health care service or organization. (It may be your place of employment). Identify at least five of the following aspects of its business structure that the governing bodies are responsible for:

Type of system or organization

Mission, vision, and values

Services provided

Organization's strategic plan

Members of the governing board members

Structure of the governing board and standing committees

Credentialing body/regulators

Financial structure

Population served

Suppliers

As you have discovered this week, not all businesses are the same, depending on their mission and who they serve, and not all countries have the same business structure for health care. A country with socialized medicine will differ from the U.S., for instance, in terms of these aspects.