Please read the following scenario and discuss the following questions with your classmates. Consider this scenario. Ann is a manager for two certified home health care agencies covering an area of over 200 square miles. She and her staff frequently discuss their observations about frequent hospital readmissions for people with chronic pulmonary conditions. Ann is aware that a local hospital has been conducting grand rounds on this condition for providers and community members. Ann is interested in establishing a collaboration with this hospital to identify this population’s demographics, such as diagnoses, age, gender, ethnicity, residence, insurance status, use of emergency room services, admission/readmission data, length of hospital stays, members of the health care team, care costs, frequency/intensity of home care services, in-home or community based risk factors, etc… This data will be used to establish a collaborative health education and medical intervention plan to be implemented in both the inpatient setting and in the community through Ann’s home health care agency, which will be implemented upon receipt of funding. (Case adapted from Lubkin, I. M., & Larsen, P. D. (2008). Chronic illness: Impact and interventions. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishing.)

Review the website describing the Our Lady of the Angels catholic school fire that occurred in December, 1958.

Do you believe that the organizational cultures differ between hospitals and agencies providing care in people’s homes, and if so, how do you think that strategic planning may vary between hospital settings and home and community based service settings, such as home health care agencies?