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Abstract

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is a health system located in Columbus, Ohio that provides healthcare services to more than 2.3 Million residents of Central Ohio. OSUWMC is the third largest health system in the region behind OhioHealth and Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel operates four hospitals and two urgent care facilities and employs over 8,000 individuals, of which 1,500 are physicians. OhioHealth is a faith-based health system that contracts more than 2,000 physicians in 17 hospitals and 20 surgical centers. Competing against these two systems will prove to be a challenge that requires the use of strategic analysis.

OSUWMC’s $1 Billion projectONE expansion will create an estimated 10,000 new jobs, and the primary initiatives of this project’s People Plan are to build a talent base, foster excellence, and develop leaders. There is a strong need for HR to recruit, hire, and develop individuals with different skills and talents to maximize the potential of this expansion project. These new facilities will bring more space and more processes that should have their potential maximized. In order to assist with this, managers can implement Six Sigma and LEAN thinking into designing layouts and workflows that minimize errors and increase efficiency. LEAN concepts result in the elimination of waste caused by defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra-processing. Eliminating waste at this crucial stage in a hospital’s development can prevent potentially devastating financial errors. The medical center comprises approximately half of the university’s budget; a very significant part of the financial structure of the university. Given the economic challenges facing the State of Ohio and the need to moderate tuition increases, it is imperative that the university seek new and innovative ways to finance continued progress.

Accomplishing OSUWMC’s mission will require the development of adaptive strategies. One of these strategies involves expanding the scope of the services being offered. The Ohio State University has an opportunity to be a leader in developing telemedicine. There are benefits to adopting telemedicine for both the supplier and the consumer. Telemedicine eliminates distance barriers and provides an opportunity to branch out into rural communities. Adapting an organization to withstand current and future markets may require eliminating services or products to cut financial losses or to make room for development in other areas.

Consolidating services to a single location can increase efficiency and reduce overhead costs significantly. Both of the full service hospitals operate laboratories that conduct microbiology and hematology testing on patient samples. Reducing this overlap by transporting specimens from one hospital to the other will eliminate the need for excess equipment and the associated materials. Implementing strategies that improve efficiency and develop new markets will allow the OSUWMC to maintain its standing as the premier provider of healthcare services in Central Ohio.

Publication Date

11-14-2014

College/Unit

College of Health and Public Administration

Disciplines

Health and Medical Administration

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Strategic Analysis

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