Developing a Strategic Plan for a Health Information Service at Curtin Hospital (hypothetical) from 2015-2020.

Curtin Hospital Information

Curtin Hospital is a 330 bed public metropolitan hospital that is looking to expand to 550 beds by 2016. There is currently two years' worth of medical records stored in the primary storage area and the remainder of medical records are stored at an offsite storage facility. The total number of patient admissions for the financial year 2013/2014 was 50,000. This is expected to increase by an additional 20,000 new patients in the next financial year and a further 10% per annum growth in new patients in subsequent years. A wide range of specialities are offered at Curtin Hospital including: Maternity, Paediatric Surgery, Orthopaedics, Oncology, General Surgery, Plastic Surgery and a range of Outpatient services including Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy. Curtin Hospital also has an Emergency Department and is looking to develop a Mental Health Unit that includes both inpatient and community outreach services.

The Health Information Service at Curtin Hospital currently employs the following staff:

Health Information Manager- 1 FTE

Deputy Health Information Manager-1 FTE

Release of Information Officer-1 FTE

Patient Information Clerks- 7 FTE

Coding Manager-1 FTE

Coding Educator-1 FTE

Clinical Coders-9 FTE

1. Literature Review 25%

The literature review is to be a minimum of 1500 words and maximum of 3000 words and needs to address strategic issues affecting Health Information Management Service/Departments. The literature review is intended to provide information for the second part of this assessment, in terms of future issues impacting on the strategic direction of the Health Information Management Service/Department.

Topics to be addressed in the literature review are: 

• Discuss what a strategic plan is.
• The importance of strategic planning.
• How you can identify issues for inclusion in a strategic plan.
• Stakeholder importance and involvement in strategic planning.
• The value of a strategic plan for the Health Information Management Service/Department.
• Identification of issues impacting the Health Information Management Service/Department that can be addressed in the strategic plan.

The literature review is to be uploaded in the same document as the Strategic Plan. A marking guide is available for this assessment.

2.  Strategic Plan 25%

Using information gathered from the literature review in terms of strategic issues identified that impact on the Health Information Service/Department for the future time period of 2015-2020, develop a strategic plan for your service/department. The plan itself is to be presented on no more than two A4 pages or one A3 page. The Executive Summary should be no longer than two pages. The written section of this report is to be between 1500-3000 words. A marking guide is provided.

The strategic plan should address the following as a minimum:

• Executive Summary: should be concise whilst addressing all of the issues raised in the Strategic Plan for the department. The idea of an Executive Summary is to provide a snapshot of the report and provide key findings as well as make recommendations in relation to the report outcomes. Someone should be able to read this and get the essential information they need about the department's strategic plan.
• SWOT Analysis
• Identification of strategies and how specific goals will be developed to achieve these strategies.
• Development of a Vision and Mission statement for the Health Information Service.
• Risk Management and Identification