Houston Health Alliance Centre

An estimated one million Harris Texas residents are either underinsured or not insured at all. Though an annual budget of $2 billion is provided for by different groups of public and private agencies, it is not enough to meet the insurance demands of the population. The safety net system is strained by various factors ranging from demographic and economic trends, lack of adequate funding for the healthcare system and poor or limited coordination among the healthcare providers. In a bid to end this state of affairs, business leaders, as well as healthcare groups, met in 2004. The two groups- the Greater Houston Partnerships Public Health Task Force and the Save Our ERs group- formulated the Harris County Public Healthcare System Council and helped in the passage of legislation in Texas that sought for the provision of financial support to trauma centers. A non-profit organization, Harris County Public Healthcare was formed to coordinate the activities of indigent health care providers, to foster efficient delivery and solicit for additional resources to subsidize indigent healthcare costs (dev, 2016).

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Functional Departments

The health center has been divided into several functional groups for efficiency in availing of different classes of medical needs to patients within the city of Harris county. The technical departments consist of; Firstly Primary medical care- this department cover for general medical care for different illnesses and injuries incurred by patients. Second is the behavioral health department; this department has specialized in offering guidance to mental health challenges, counseling and psychological conditions such as anxiety disorders and post-traumatic syndrome. Third is the Eye Care unit; this is self-explanatory as it covers any optical challenges experienced by patients and also takes care of diseases like cataracts in senior citizens within the community. The fourth is the Pharmacy services department, here all patients referred are given prescription drugs for their different ailments, this department only deals with drugs. Finally, we have the social service department; here the health center provides for care for the old, community health services such as vaccination and other childcare needs that require the consultation with a medical expert. All the above functional groups make Houston Health Alliance Centre standout as a dependable health center for all age groups and genders within the city of Texas.

Mile Stones

The health center has key milestones that have been achieved since its establishment. The year 2010 saw the creation of a focus-centric mission towards poverty and health. The purpose of this project was to offer medical care for patients within and outside the medical center; the primary goal was to help out individuals who could not pay up for the cost of medical expenses.

The next milestone according to its strategic plan 2016/2022 is where Houston Health Alliance Centre opened services for Women Infants and Children. This service package was for teenage mothers and sick children with and aim of developing an All Inclusive care package for the Elderly in society and the development of Walk-In Primary care clinics that were distributed in different locations in Houston.

The 2006 was rather revolutionary expansions in most of the services initially offered, the health center expanded its School-bases Health Care Centers, Eye Clinics were expanded, and the Pharmacy Services were increased in all the clinics within Houston. Later in 2006, the hospital pushed for the improvements in the quality maintenance and care for patients through the provision of patient-centric medical homes and the development of home care integrated services. The hospital's accreditation was made possible by the Joint Commission of Medics a Quality Assurance certificate as a certified Level 2 Medical Centre.

Leadership of Houston Health Alliance Centre

The leadership of Houston Health Alliance Centre is comprised of individuals who live and work within Texas. Most of these individual access treatment for their illnesses and their families access medical care within the facility. The collaboration of the community and involvement of local individuals within the community puts Houston Health Alliance Centre in a strategic position to understand the needs of the community within which they operate; it is a potent factor to include the top management individuals at the core of the facility management board.

The health care center is managed by a popular majority President, Vice President, Secretary, a Treasurer and other people as the hospital board of directors. The chairperson of the facility is a religious leader; this helps to give Houston Health Alliance Centre Centre a holistic sense, the people within the community would find it easy to relate to the hospital staff due to the comprehensive environment within the facility. The majority of the staff members believe in charitable service offering for the overall good of the community. This factor alone makes the community health center to have the sense of approachability that welcomes in people in a friendly and amicable manner.

The senior management in the facility is comprised of a Chief Executive Officer, Chief Human Resource Manager, Chief Behavioral Health Officer, Chief Information Officer and the Director of Operations just but to mention a few. Having a senior management team can be advantageous because it ensures that the accountability and running of operations within the facility is eased. The roles of the management staff is clearly stipulated hence the people in leadership positions conduct their activities with ease without clashing of tasks. Tasks are scheduled, and projects are rolled out with every member knowing in mind what is expected of them.

Standardization of Services

Regular evaluation is necessary for the development of assessment reports that help in knowing the quality of services offered and the effectiveness of the projects that are undertaken by the health centers in patient care. The management of the community health center always conduct regular checks and assessment of the Patient-centric medical home program; it is important to evaluate the services offered, the quality of the services and the feedback from the patients.

Evaluation is an essential part of Houston Health Alliance Centre; the health center is always conducting evaluations to make reports that help them to evaluate their compliance with the set Patient-centric medicals standards. The top management takes these reports, and they compare them with the industry benchmarks, this helps them to ensure that the hospital meets their goals in patient care. The advantage of undertaking a medical care evaluation program is that the hospital gets an analysis of the report hence it helps in knowing the areas that need improvement.

Evaluations are conducted in the following areas of medical care; Breast Cancer Screening, Tobacco Assessment, the Blood Pressure control reports for patients with diabetes and hypertension, finally assessments are conducted to patient cessation for diabetes. All these key regions are important in considering the quality of services and the performance of the hospital as compared to other hospitals in Massachusetts.

Employment and Employee life in Houston Health Alliance Centre

The health center believes in the service of all qualified staff regardless, of race, color, the nationality, age, sex, veteran or handicap. All these individuals have an equal opportunity to employment at Houston Community Health Care Centre. The healthcare center focuses on the employment of people through recruiting them, hiring of the qualified people, training them on their specific roles and promoting applicants based on experience and show of leadership skills.

All employees of the facility are eligible for employee benefits; the distinguishing factor is whether as an employee an individual work part time or full time. Employees who work part time in the facility are eligible for benefits as longs they work for 20 hours or more in a weeks time. All employees working part time and do not put in work for more than twenty hours per week are not eligible for any benefits.

All full-time employees are eligible for benefits such as Health Insurance, Dental Insurance and Vision Plan. Other advantages include a 31-day leave per year, an extended five-day sick leave, a flexible spending account, a tuition program and a group life policy. All the above benefits are extended to all full-time employees, putting all this into perspective, the hospital staff is more than 250 inclusive of clinicians, this would mean that the health care facility spends a large sum of money in attending to the needs of their staff and their family members. The free services or subsidized rates for members of staff can be costly to the management of the hospital, and this puts the hospital at risk of running short of finances to manage the facility.

As a nonprofit community health care, it is crucial that cost accounting should be analyzed critically to allow for efficient management of the facility. It is important that the senior management of the facility to put considerations into developing a medical care model for staff members and their beneficiaries to access medical attention at subsidized rates. Offering free health care services to spouses and children of the hospital staff can put the facility in a tight spot on finances. One important fact is that the community health center charges a subtle amount to patients who come in for medical assistance putting into consideration the background of the people who use the facility more often.

Working Mechanism in Houston Health Alliance Centre

Houston Health Alliance Centre management is based on the use of functional departments in the management of activities in the hospital. The core structure of the health center could have problems in the case of disconnection between the various departments in the facility. A disconnect in the departments in the sense that the Primary Care unit does not communicate effectively with the Pharmaceutical Services department this could lead to issues with the management of patient care in the hospital. A miscorrelation of the services offered can damage the reputation of the community health center. It is important that proper communication is maintained between the various departments in the facility.

Organization Structure

The medical center puts to use the hierarchal structure of management; this system arranges the board of directors at the top of the management structure in a perfect manner. They are followed by a senior management team who are preceded by departmental heads. This management structure is suitable for the division of labor and activities within the facility. It suits best a situation where one has to offer specialized services that are vital and unique to a given department. The communication schemes are vertical either upward or downward. In the case of any complaints or recommendations or advisement, communication is either passed to the person in charge who then sends it up the ladder. Corollary information from the management heads is moved vertically downwards all the way to the employee at the bottom of the hierarchy.

Merits of Hierarchal Organization Structure

The hierarchal system of organization is that it helps to establish a clear authority of who is in charge of a given department. This suits perfectly in the case of Houston Health Alliance Centre in that, the management of the facility and its many branches spread all over Texas should be centralized. All managers have to report to the Board of Directors who are the leading authority in the structure. The boundaries...