Performance Management at Intermountain Healthcare Analysis

By 2008, Intermountain Healthcare had grown to become one of the leading healthcare systems in Utah and Idaho. The case shares that the nonprofit organization consisted of 21 hospitals, 2,488 licensed beds, and 118 medical care clinics. Furthermore, the organization even had its own health insurance program called Select Health, with which it had solidified its position as one of the leaders in the market. This case basically describes an integrated healthcare system, and gives a general ground for discussion of some of the difficulties that management of such a system needs to deal with in the current state of the economy so as to remain at an economic surplus.

It is well known that for a few years now, there have been some major changes in the healthcare market in terms of providing and paying for delivery of care. The case shares the concern of the rising costs and the impact on reimbursement from health care payers. The biggest issue is reduction in Medicare payments. Being a nationally recognized integrated healthcare system, every economic change in the market could potentially have a large impact on the financial stability of Intermountain.

Regarding its clinical operations, Intermountain relies on value added initiatives and efficiency in work processes. The case talks about team structures, comprised of Guidance Councils, and Development Teams. The Development Teams form and present Clinical Process Models to the senior management at the Guidance Councils. The models are analyzed, and if approved, they are applied at the designated departments. This congruent team structure and the strong management integration ensures the continuous success of Intermountain. The organization seems to have a very solidly established integrated structure and therefore performance management should not present a lot of issues, even with financial changes in the market.

In addition, the changed metrics and goals in the organization's Balanced Scorecard further...