Asian Health Services’ Strategic (SWOT) Analysis

Introduction

Among all American healthcare providers, the Asian Health Services (AHS) is outstanding. Namely, the organization was founded to help the US’s Chinese, Vietnamese, and Taiwanese minorities when such care was unaffordable. Although now there is less discrimination towards this group, ASH continues providing its services. The company seems to operate its facilities effectively because of the Blue Ocean strategy it had chosen years ago. Yet, changes in the healthcare system of the US, such as the emergence of the Affordable Care Act and demographic shifts, made ASH consider a transfer from a non-for-profit to a for-profit business model as well as introduce a new strategical plan (Chung & Chin, 2015). However, the primary issue of the organization, employee retention, still needs to be addressed. In the essay, the appliance of mission and vision, as well as SWOT analysis, are provided to assess the probable success of ASH in eliminating the issue.

Main body

The organization has implemented several new policies to manage the existing issue. First of all, ASH’s leaders “try to keep within 90 percent of the salary levels of [their] competitors, and make up for this 10% by offering benefits such as schedule and administrative flexibility” (Chung & Chin, 2015, p. 7). However, the reason for employees leaving the company is not dissatisfaction with the salaries but the want for professional growth and long-term benefits such as retirement funds. The other policy of ASH is reducing face-to-face contact with patients and the limit for appointments per day to prevent burnout of the workers (Chung & Chin, 2015). While the second initiative is rational, the first decision is somewhat flawed: instead of bonuses for the employees, it would be better to provide a retirement plan.

Next, it is necessary to establish whether the organization’s strategic planning around the mentioned issue aligns with its organizational mission and vision. Evidently, AHS’s mission is “to serve … for the medically underserved, including the immigrant and refugee Asian community, and to ensure equal access to health care services regardless of income, insurance status, language, or culture” (Asian Health Services n.d., para. 14). The vision of the company, in turn, is “to have operations and programs such that patients choose [AHS] because they want to choose us, and not because there is no other option for care” (Chung & Chin, 2015, p. 12). In fact, the company aligns its policies with these statements. For example, the leaders have decided to eliminate out-of-pocket payments so that all customers would be able to receive care even if they lack appropriate resources (Chung & Chin, 2015). The other instance is the inclusion of nail salon workers in the client base of the clinics, which are mostly Vietnamese refugees: this is in accordance with the company’s mission (Chung & Chin, 2015). Thus, the organization adheres to its mission and vision when implementing new policies.

Furthermore, AHS obtains several strengths that benefit it in the process of addressing the issue of employee retention. For example, the organization has managed to implement “a new electronic health records system to improve quality of health care and comply with a provision in the ACA” (Chung & Chin, 2015, p. 3). Since the new technology is used to reduce workers’ burnout, it is also useful for keeping employees loyal to the company (Carayon & Salwei, 2021). The other example of AHS’s strengths is the lowered cost of care through the efficient practices of the health care providers along with the willingness of the company to make saves (Chung & Chin, 2015). This means that AHS can raise the salaries of its employees via the finances that have been saved.

However, there are also organizational weaknesses that prevent the leaders from solving the issue. As such, flat payments are recognized to be ineffective in providing enough competitive compensation for employees (Chung & Chin, 2015). However, it seems that fixed payment for services rather than for visits allows better customer care (Guo et al., 2019). The other problem is the ever-increasing pull of patients who need repeated care; yet, these produce no additional pay for the workers, which results in their desire to apply to a company where every additional service would be paid (Chung & Chin, 2015). Thus, the unchangeable conditions in the company might repel its employees from continuing to work in the organization.

Yet, the company has a chance to improve its strategy to address the issue. One of AHS’ opportunities is financial support from the government and the stakeholders (Chung & Chin, 2015). Moreover, the company is unionized, which means that its workers can report issues in the workplace (Chung & Chin, 2015). These opportunities allow the company to gain insight into the employees’ dissatisfaction and raise the salaries to prevent turnover.

Next, several threats exist that might undermine the whole program for eliminating the retention issue. First of all, there is an obvious threat from the competitors of the organization who propose better retirement plans and salaries. Primarily, people who resign from applying to a new job are employees who received training in AHS while being inexperienced medical workers. The company attempts to hire more professionals, yet there is a problem: they are rarely bilingual (Chung & Chin, 2015). As a result, the company might lose its competitive advantage in the market. Therefore, it is necessary for the organization to design better working conditions to compete with its rivals.

Finally, environmental factors have an impact on the delivery of care within the organization, as well as on its attempts to resolve the issue. As such, the ACA made it possible for people of any economic status to receive care in clinics via Medicaid and Medicare programs. This improvement, however, urges the old patients to choose facilities that are closer to their homes than AHS, reducing its potential income (Chung & Chin, 2015). Moreover, the need for medical workers in other organizations who aim to reduce burnout of their staff also reduces the number of employees in the company. Hence, the competitiveness of the multiple healthcare providers influences the quality of care as well as the workers’ behavior in the organization.

Conclusion

To conclude, AHS is a well-managed organization that overcomes a variety of challenges that arise because of the company’s internal structure. Yet, AHS continues to adhere to its mission and vision, providing culture-sensitive care for all people in need. The company has advantages over its competitors, such as governmental support. Nevertheless, it is difficult for the organization to compete with for-profit healthcare providers in terms of employee retention. AHS should undertake new strategical policies to eliminate this issue.

References

Asian Health Services. (n.d.). Our mission. Web.

Carayon, P., & Salwei, M. E. (2021). Moving toward a sociotechnical systems approach to continuous health information technology design: The path forward for improving electronic health record usability and reducing clinician burnout. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 28(5), 1026–1028. Web.

Chung, K., and Chin, W. N. (2015). Asian Health Services: Rediscovering a Blue Ocean [PDF]. Web.

Guo, P., Tang, C. S., Wang, Y., & Zhao, M. (2019). The impact of reimbursement policy on social welfare, revisit rate, and waiting time in a public healthcare system: Fee-for-Service versus bundled payment. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 21(1), 154–170. Web.