Faith Hospital Strategic Adoption and Analysis of PET/CT Imaging

Background

Faith hospital is a medical center which is located in Toledo, Ohio. It is a member of Hope Healthcare and it has 175 beds, an onsite cancer center, and a level II trauma center. The healthcare has been well coordinated and all the departments are linked to one another as far as the provision of services is concerned. The main departments of the hospital consist of the diagnostic radiography, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine and ultrasound, and interventional radiography. The key resources which are at their disposal consist of equipment and employees. The composition of the employees comprise 13 registered Radiologic Technologists, 5 registered technologist in X-ray and CT, 4 registered technologist in X-ray, 4-Certified Nuclear Medicine Technologists, 2 registered Technologist in X-Ray and MRI, 2 Cath Lab Technologists, 2 Certified Nuclear Medicine and RMI and 1 Registered technologists in X-ray, CT and Bone Density testing. The equipment which the company has consisted of two 8 slice scanners for CT, 4 well-equipped rooms for diagnostic radiography, two 1.5 T magnets for MRI, Gamma Camera for nuclear medicine, 3 unit, and up-to-date software for the ultrasound and 2 suites for interventional or cardiac catheterization. It offers various services to customers and is always aiming at improving the patients' experience. It is what has made it remain competitive in the recent past. However, due to a twist of events, the hospital's management should change the strategies to remain relevant.

General Description of the Problem

In the past, the hospital had shown a good performance as far as the provision of services to the clients and profitability is concerned. However, there are myriad of problems which the medical center has been facing. They comprise of a decrease in the number of patients which visited the hospital over time, a decrease in the staff morale as they perform different tasks in the organization and a decline in the profitability of the organization. It is due to these factors which have forced the previous managers to reduce the number of staff of the hospital to 40 imaging employees who were working at a varying status (part-time, or full-time basis). Due to these problems, the company has decided to establish strategies which shall assist them in ensuring that they attract more patients to the hospital and achieve a competitive edge over the competition (Relentless Health system which has been launched in the same locality). These will be achieved mainly through adding the hybrid modalities like PET/CT; PET/MR strategies to assist in the cancer center to carry out the screening process hence efficiency in diagnosis (Ilan Leibovitch, 2006). It will also give a reason why the strategy was chosen, how the decision was supported, the legal, financial and human resource implications to the new strategy which is chosen as well as the technical implications which it can cause to the hospital either in the short or long-term basis. The information will assist in the managerial decision, a process which shall enable them to make an informed decision to enable the improvement of the healthcare's performance in both the short and long run (Beyer et al, 2000).

The recommendation to Implement Adding Hybrid Modalities

The strategy is chosen and its benefits

In order to improve the operations of the hospital, the hybrid modalities which can be taken into consideration are the PET/CT strategy. The use of strategy is very vital for the hospital since it provides distinct benefits as compared to when the PET and CT scanners were used separately. For instance, it provides physicians with tools which will allow them to make an accurate diagnosis before they deliver treatments to the patients. It also assists the physicians to lessen the potential for restaging since it simplifies the image or evaluation process and improves the consumers care both at the present and at a future date. The strategy is also recommended since it can be used in the improvement of the imaging process in the clinical trials especially in the situations where the standardization and precisions are necessary (Boellaard et al, 2010). The Positron emission tomography (PET) and Computed tomography (CT) scans are used to evaluate various diseases such as cancer, certain brain disorders and heart diseases, a situation which shall help the hospital to respond to various patient's needs, a process which shall lead to the improvement in the efficiency in service delivery. The PET scanners are used to measure the metabolic activity while the CT scanners tend to highlight the anatomic features. In accordance with the current PET/CT analysis, there is an increased availability of the multimodality scanners which are capable of acquiring complementary imaging which is set in a single setting (Beyer et al, 2000). The hybrid combines the strength of the two well-established imaging modalities so as to improve diagnose, localize and monitor the diseases. It is a process which eliminates the risks of poor superimposition of separating imaging and lessens encumbrance on the patient by simplifying the scanning scheduling process. Moreover, it uses the CT images for attenuation correction of the PET data and does not rely on the rotating transmission rod source. Due to these advantages, the medical healthcare stands a chance to add value to its services, a process which shall improve its market share as well as market share (Buck et al, 2010).

In relation to the financial benefits, the company will improve the performance of the hospital by 30% in a period of 5 years and 51% in a period of 10 years, a process which shall lead to the improvement in the company's performance over time (Buck et al, 2010).

The financial and human resource implications

Costs and cost saving

In the implementation of the PET/CT strategy to improve the operations, there are various costs which are embedded in its operations. For instance, the company will incur additional costs of purchasing the scanners, the installation of the scanners and other equipment and adding more employees who will run the scanners over time (Nunez, 2018). These will increase the costs of service delivery. In the case of the hospital, the costs of purchasing the scanners range from $300,000 to $400,000. These include the installation costs and one year warranty. The company can incur approximately $15000 in maintenance costs per year and additional costs of the employees (Nunez, 2018). The total number of employees which can be required for the delivery of service totals to 10. The total cost schedule can be presented as follows:

However, in accordance with research, it was found that the use of PET/CT strategies is very important since it leads to cost savings. For instance, the strategy helps to save ranges from $30000 to $4400 per patient. Besides, the income which is to be generated per patient per procedure ranges from $35000 to $40000 in the United States (Saif et al, 2010). These thus show that the hospital will improve their revenue based on the inclining demand for such services. In accordance with the research done by Heinrich and his counterparts on the pancreatic tumor patients who did undergo a PET/CT scan, the metastases were found in 16% of patients and cost saving of $1066 per patient. It can show that human resource management should make adjustments so as to ensure that the needs and obligations over time.

The Schedule of PET/CT Strategies

While scheduling for the implementation of the PET/CT strategy, there are various steps which should be taken into consideration. These comprise of conducting a research and by consulting the stakeholders (employees, patients, and society) to give their views on the adoption of the strategy. When they support the process, the proper planning is done to guarantee that the necessary resources are allocated to ensure that the scanners are acquired, installed and managed. Besides, the strategy's benefit is evaluated to ensure that they meet the requirements of the company as well as if it can serve the company in the long term basis so as to achieve the long-term basis. When the strategy is suitable, the management team will go ahead and implement it to the company. After the implementation, the review is done to ensure that the strategy has worked to achieve the set objectives. These can be presented in the Gant chart as follows:

The objective or targets

During the launching of the strategy, the key strategies which should be achieved comprise of the following:

• To improve cancer screening to improve service delivery to patients.
• It also to provide a new experience to the patients', a process which enhances service delivery over a given period.
• Through a trickle-down effort, the strategy will improve the customers' experience, a process which shall give the company's a competitive advantage over time.

Assumptions and unknowns

When implementing these strategies, the key assumptions which are taken into consideration. They comprise of the following:

• It is assumed that the risks associated with the PET/CT scan can be handled effectively and be reduced to a manageable level by the physicians.
• The new system can fit the obese patients at the opening of the conventional PET/CT scan.
• It is assumed that all the patients will keep time for the all the appointments which are made. It is to assist them from suffering the loss from the decaying radioactive substances.
• It's assumed that the hospital can raise the cost of the machine as well as they will get the entire workforce required to run and manage the scanners.

Required Support to Implement and effect on other departments

During the planning and implementation, the key support should come from the management through the provision of the resources which are required for the implementation and management of the new project. Besides, the stakeholders like workers should be for the implementation of this strategy since through their support, the company can meet a competitive advantage over time. Also, the patients should show a positive response to the process, a situation which shall improve the operations and performance over time.

In relation to other departments, the new strategy will tend to work enable the other departments to work efficiently since it will boost the productivity of the physicians hence improving the experience of the patients.

Conclusion

Given the benefits which are to be gotten from the adoption of the PET/CT, the company tends to generate a high level of revenues, a process which shall improve the performance and operations of the medical healthcare over a given period.

References

Beyer, T., Townsend, D. W., Brun, T., Kinahan, P. E., Charron, M., Roddy, R., ... & Nutt, R. (2000). A combined PET/CT scanner for clinical oncology. Journal of nuclear medicine, 41(8), 1369-1379.

Boellaard, R., O'Doherty, M. J., Weber, W. A., Mottaghy, F. M., Lonsdale, M. N., Stroobants, S. G., ... & Marsden, P. K. (2010). FDG PET and PET/CT: EANM procedure guidelines for tumor PET imaging: version 1.0. European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, 37(1), 181.

Buck A.K., Herrman K., Startguardt T., Dechow T., Krause B.J., & Screyogg (2010). Economic Evaluation of PET and PET/CT in Oncology: Evidence and Methodologic Approaches. http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/38/1/6.full

Kjaer A., Salerno M., & Pan J.A (2016). Clinical Utility and Future Applications of PET/CT and PET/CMR in Cardiology. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5039566/

Nunez J. (2018). How much does a PET/CT Scanner Costs (2018 Update)? https://info.blockimaging.com/bid/68875/how-much-does-a-pet-ct-scanner-cost

Saif M.W., Tzannou I., Makrilia N., & Syrigos K (2010). Role and Cost-Effectiveness of PET/CT in Management of Patients with Cancer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892773/

Ilan Leibovitch, M. D. (2006). The detection of bone metastases in patients with high-risk prostate cancer: 99mTc-MDP Planar bone scintigraphy, single-and multi-field-of-view SPECT, 18F-fluoride PET, and 18F-fluoride PET/CT. J Nucl Med, 47, 287-297.

Kinahan, P. E., Townsend, D. W., Beyer, T., & Sashin, D. (1998). Attenuation correction for a combined 3D PET/CT scanner. Medical physics, 25(10), 2046-2053.