Risk management is concerned with minimizing losses arising from the organizational processes, the conduct of employees and use of resources. Health care facilities in the US are faced with risks of potential liabilities based on the services provided to patients and the conduct of employees. Healthcare organizations in the US are faced with an increasing risk of legal claims because of patient safety and medical errors (Singh & Ghatala, 2012). Cases of malpractice in the healthcare system attract a lot of public attention, and various legal provisions at state and national levels have increased the risk of liability for facilities without effective risk management policies. The cost of claims against hospitals in the United States is high, and this has increased the cost of insurance for organizations in health care industry. Apart from the risk of financial loss from claims, an organization in the health care industry have a risk of losing federal funding and damage their reputation because of the attention given to cases of organizational malpractices (Epetimehin, 2014). The risk management strategy in health care should focus on mitigation requirements because of the high cost of dealing with risk incidents.
The basic component of risk management strategy is loss control and prevention (Singh & Ghatala, 2012). All the steps taken towards risk management should be associated with a given risk and ways to prevent it by facilitating the most effective operations. The risk management strategy should identify the situations in the health care organizations that can result in financial loss. Risks are associated with various situations which may increase the probability of errors, misconduct, and misuse of resources. The risk management strategy should be concerned with the ways of preventing these situations. For instance, some situational issues, such as checks and balances, in organizations may increase the probability of employees to ignore safety requirements or encourage people in an organization to be involved in malpractices (Donahue & Rahman, 2012).
The strategy should involve periodic evaluation of incident reports to identify areas of concern and the effectiveness of the existing risk management policies (Singh & Ghatala, 2012). Organizational risks keep changing because of changes in the industry in which it operates. It is important for the risk management committee to review the risk policy based on identified issues within the organization and changes in the industry. The risk management policy should be updated to accommodate new standards of safety and operations. Risk management should be a continuous process involving all the employees in health care facilities. Each person in an organization has a role to play in ensuring adherence to the recommended procedures (Bennett, 2012).
The risk management policy should eliminate needless and risky procedures that are performed in health care facilities (Singh & Ghatala, 2012). Organizations can prevent some types of liabilities by avoiding getting involved in risky operations. The risk management policy should be based on the available tools and expertise in performing health care procedures to the patient. These controls limit the chances of errors because of the low standard of equipment or lack of proper skills by the employees. The risk management procedure should measure the effectiveness of tools in all risky operations and the qualification of the personnel in relation to safety issues (Donahue & Rahman, 2012). Besides, eliminating some of the risky operations frees certain resources for use in improving operations in other areas. Health care organizations should focus on providing services based on the available resources.
The risk management program should include in-facility complaint and grievances recording system and continuous collection of data on negative health care outcomes. Complaints and grievances pose a major risk for organizations in health care industry because of the role played by employees in risk events. Healthcare organizations should appoint a risk manager to integrate risk management procedures among all employees (Bennett, 2012). Risk managers play an important role in ensuring effective implementation of risk management policies. Although each employee has a role to play, the risk manager is important in formulating and updating risk management policies. The system should record the issues affecting employees to ensure proper resolution of conflicts and to prevent personal issues that may influence the quality of service delivery. Data on negative health care outcomes can provide an important reference when reviewing the effectiveness of the risk management policy. Negative outcomes should indicate the need for future changes. The risk management policy should seek to transfer some liabilities to other organizations through insurance coverage. Healthcare organizations have the option of using insurance providers to cover the risks associated with some of their operations. Also, a hospital can have risk agreements with suppliers or drugs and equipment (Singh & Ghatala, 2012).
The effectiveness of risk management policy is determined by various factors that should be considered in the overall strategy. These factors include the level of training among employees, organizational culture, the effectiveness of communication channels and monitoring procedures and the availability of the necessary resources (Epetimehin, 2014). The staff in health care organizations should undergo continuous training to improve their skills on safety issues. The communication channels in health care organizations should allow for easy reporting and recording of risk incidents. The CEOs of healthcare organizations should develop a culture of risk awareness and zero tolerance to risky operations. Organizational culture is important in shaping the response of people in an organization on several issues. The proper organizational culture should encourage the staff to report risk situations and take the necessary steps in avoiding risks in their role. The implementation of risk management policy depends on the level of awareness among the staff members.
The risk management policy in health care organizations focuses on prevention of risk incidents. Medical errors and failure to follow the safety regulations are the main risks faced by healthcare organizations in the US. The health care organizations should implement a risk management policy with the aim of identifying and preventing risk incidents. The leadership in these organizations has the main role of implementing a risk policy by facilitating the operations of the risk manager and risk management committee and encouraging a supportive organizational culture.
