Comprehensive Business Plan for a Strategic Initiative

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Table of Contents

Introduction
SWOT Analysis
Financial Analysis and Budget
Strategy
Implementation Schedule
Strategic Evaluation
References

Introduction

Telehealth is a promising tool for improving efficiency and reducing the cost of healthcare. This technology refers to the “entire spectrum of activities used to deliver care at a distance — without direct physical contact with the patient” (Wosik et al., 2020, p. 957). There are currently over 200 active telehealth networks in the US that provide half of all hospitals with access to some form of digital medicine (Sharma et al., 2017, p. 1). Remote medical care includes electronic consultations through various communication channels, remote monitoring of the patient’s condition, video visits, and more. The development of telehealth technology increases the level of accessibility and safety of healthcare, especially in a pandemic.

The purpose of this strategic business plan is to describe the process of implementing a mobile telehealth application for the organization. This proposal has a number of rationales based on the benefits of implementing a platform for improving the quality of care. First of all, the application will reduce the time it takes for the patient and the healthcare professional to complete the consultation. Additionally, the platform provides instant access to patient records, which will simplify the work for the physician. An important factor is also the economic benefits that the platform presents to both patients and healthcare professionals. The plan structure includes SWOT analysis, financial analysis and budget, strategy, implementation schedule, and strategic evaluation.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

The technology expansion improves access to medical care “telehealth services generally increase the convenience of seeking out health care” (Hashida & Johnson, 2021, p. 3).
Telehealth makes communication between patients and healthcare professionals safer by eliminating the risk of infection in a hospital setting.
The technology increases the time efficiency, as it provides more control over the amount of time spent on the visit for all stakeholders.
Digital technology can help optimize healthcare costs, which is currently characterized by 25% waste in the US (Shrank et al., 2019, p. 7).
Telehealth networks make the record-keeping process easier by providing access to all the relevant information on one platform.
More convenient and personalized access to healthcare allows a large number of patients to be engaged.

Weaknesses:

The need to address patient privacy concerns under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) (HIPAA for professionals, n.d).
Telehealth requires medical professionals to acquire specific skills to work effectively with the technology.
Shortcomings in the existing digital infrastructure, which is especially relevant for remote areas.
Low awareness of patients about the possibility of remote interaction and receiving medical care.

Opportunities:

Creation of platforms for effective communication between medical professionals and patients.
Development of more relevant legislation to facilitate the spread of remote healthcare.
Development of digital infrastructure, including the availability of telehealth in remote areas.
Raising the level of awareness of patients about the possibilities of digital interaction with health professionals.

Threats:

Telehealth can result in insufficient clinical data collection, which can lead to misdiagnosis.
Ensuring data security and HIPAA compliance is challenging and expensive.
Lack of real human interaction, which can negatively affect the quality of care.

Financial Analysis and Budget

The first step is to assess the potential financial benefit that can be gained from implementing the application. The main savings in telehealth are reduced travel costs for patients, as well as for physicians (Snoswell et al., 2020). Van Wagenen (2017) reports that “telemedicine visits saved upwards of 11,000 patients a total of 9 years of time and $ 2.8 million in travel costs” (para. 9). Whitacre et al. (2017) note that annual savings including personnel costs, missed work, travel time, and pharmacy and lab work can be estimated by hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Additionally, the use of the application can increase the number of patients who are regularly monitored in the hospital, which also positively affects the income of the medical institution.

The cost of implementing a strategy includes not only the development of the application but also related other factors. First of all, the development of a basic version of the application will cost $50,000-80,000 (Cost of telemedicine, n.d). The functionality of this platform “includes a patient app, a doctor app, and an admin panel for a single platform” (Cost of telemedicine, n.d). For the presented strategy, such functions will be sufficient; additional features may be presented later.

The costs also include assessing the functionality of the existing network and the technical work to implement the application. In this case, it is important to consider that it is also necessary to provide for compliance with data privacy legislation. The cost of implementing the application also includes the work of the technical team at the hospital, who will oversee the application and provide support for healthcare professionals. The average salary for such a specialist is about $58,000 (Healthcare technology specialist, n.d). One must also consider the possible costs of upgrading existing hospital hardware. It is also important to consider making changes to the site structure to provide information about access to the application.

Expenditure:	Cost:
Application development:	$80,000
Hiring a technical specialist (annually):	$58,000
Possible hardware modifications:	$10,000
Creating a page on the site:	$250
Total Budget:	$139,250

Table 1. The budget for the development and implementation of the application.

Strategy

The strategy for implementing telehealth in the organization includes the development of a dedicated mobile phone application that would be available to both patients and healthcare professionals. The primary task of the application is to synthesize all the data available to the physician about the patient. Additionally, the platform will provide access to real-time consultations and a module with medical recommendations. The first step in the development strategy is to prepare the existing network for connecting the application. The information source for this platform will be an integrated records system available to all hospital staff. An important factor, in this case, is ensuring data security, including the security of the network and devices.

Application development should take place in integration with medical professionals to include all the necessary sections in it. In particular, the application should have access to patient records, laboratory data, and hospital visits, as well as the ability to communicate with the patient. Application integration requires technical supervision to work correctly on healthcare professional devices. Thus, after the application is introduced into the system, it is necessary to install it on personal devices. It is important that the devices are isolated from any outside interference and are able to provide a sufficient level of data privacy.

A key step in the implementation of the strategy is the preparation and training of personnel for correct and effective interaction with the platform. This training can be performed by technicians who must provide all the necessary information, as well as support medical professionals at all stages of using the application. Periodic monitoring of the state of the devices by the technical service will ensure the required level of security and performance.

The final stage of application implementation is to attract patients and raise their level of awareness of the platform’s capabilities. First of all, it is necessary to provide patients with access to the application. This can be done through posting information on the organization’s website, as well as through the dissemination of information through physicians and nurses. Medical professionals need to explain in detail to each patient the capabilities of the platform and schedule follow-up appointments and monitoring, if possible, through the application.

Implementation Schedule

The implementation schedule includes the development of the application, the time for installation on devices, integration into the network, the provision of staff, and familiarization of patients with the functionality of the application.

Step:	Timeframe:
Application development:	35 weeks (9 months) (Telemedicine software cost, 2020)
Installation and integration:	4 weeks (1 month)
Medical staff training:	2 weeks (0.5 months)
Engaging and informing patients:	24 weeks (6 months)
Total timeframe:	65 weeks (16.5 months)

Table 2. The application implementation schedule.

Strategic Evaluation

In the process of implementing the strategy, it is necessary to constantly monitor the number of patients who use the application. In particular, you need to track the statistics of interactions made in the application. Particular attention should be paid to collecting data on the type of interaction and patient outcomes. The ability to adjust strategy during implementation is necessary to assess the need to add and modify any functional features of the application that would have a positive impact on its use.

References

Cost of telemedicine app development in 2021. (n.d). MindBrowser.

Hashida, C., & Johnson, B. (2021). The 2021-22 budget: Analysis of the governor’s Medi-Cal telehealth proposal [PDF-file]. Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Healthcare technology specialist salary. (n.d). ZipRecruiter.

HIPAA for professionals. (n.d). HHS. Web.

Sharma, R., Fleischut, P., & Barchi, D. (2017). Telemedicine and its transformation of emergency care: A case study of one of the largest US integrated healthcare delivery systems. International Journal of Emergency Medicine, 10(21), 1-4.

Shrank, W. H., Rogstad, T., & Parekh. (2019). Waste in the US health care system: Estimated costs and potential for savings.The Journal of the American Medical Association, 322(15), 1-9.

Snoswell, C. L., North, J. B., & Caffery, L. J. (2020). Economic advantages of telehealth and virtual health practitioners: Return on investment analysis. JMIR Perioperative Medicine, 3(1), 1-8.

Telemedicine software cost, technologies, and development timeline. (2020). Existek.

Van Wagenen, J. (2017). Telemedicine’s benefits include ROI for hospitals in rural communities.

Whitacre, B., Hartman, P. S., Boggs, S., & Schott, V. (2017). Evaluating the economic impact of telemedicine in a rural community. Oklahoma State University.

Wosik, J., Fudim, M., Cameron, B., Gellad, Z. F., Cho, A., Phinney, D., Curtis, S., Roman, M., Poon, E., Ferranti, J., Katz, J. N., & Tcheng, J. (2020). Telehealth transformation: COVID-19 and the rise of virtual care. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 27(6), 957-962.

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