Identify And Explain The Role Of Stakeholders In A Hospital

A healthcare technology department in a hospital is responsible for recommending, installing, maintaining, and repairing medical equipment. This includes anything from simple blood pressure monitors to complex imaging equipment. They are also responsible for making sure that imaging equipment uploads their images properly to the hospitals electronic health records. These responsibilities lead to the healthcare technology departments having many stakeholders both inside and outside the hospital. Healthcare technology department stakeholders include:

• Patients
• Doctors
• Individual departments of a hospital
• Equipment manufactures
• Third-party maintenance companies
• Hospital CFO’s
• Hospital CEO’s and COO’s
• Federal/State/Local health departments
The primary objectives of these stakeholders vary widely. Patient safety is a primary aim of patients as well federal, state, and local health departments. Doctors and departments of a hospital that provide
healthcare services want the equipment ready to use when needed. The information technology department’s primary objective is for medical equipment to seamlessly upload its information into hospitals electronic health record. Hospital Chief Financial Officers want to reduce maintenance costs and improve the hospital’s profitability. Hospital Chief Executive Officers and Chief Operating Officers want to make sure the department is operating within the guidelines set by the Joint Commission and American Hospital Association. Outside the hospital, equipment manufacturers want to increase their profits by expanding their market share in the hospital. Third party maintenance organizations also want to increase their profits by selling the hospital more maintenance contracts. As the previous paragraph shows, there are a lot of stakeholders for a healthcare technology department.
These stakeholders have varying levels of power at affecting the hospitals strategic plans and they use that power in different ways. Ultimately, patients have the most power because if their desires are not met. They have the option of going to another hospital for treatment. Hospital Chief Financial Officers have power because they control the budget of the department. Hospital Chief Executive Officers and Chief Operating Officers have power because they set the direction and operating procedures for the entire hospital. Doctors and departments of a hospital that provide healthcare services use their power to influence what equipment is purchased and which equipment has priority when it comes to repairs. Stakeholders outside the hospital may have less power, however they still have power because they provide a majority of the training on newer technologies when the hospital purchases their
equipment. As shown above, stakeholders primary objectives and their power to influence strategic planning is something that must be considered when making strategic plans. However, they also provide insights into how the hospital should respond to actions taken by the stockholders. For example, if an equipment manufacturer threatens to stop providing training, the hospital can use its primary objective, to increase profits, as a guide to their response. A possible response to this threat, knowing their primary objective, would be to inform the manufacturer that if they stop providing training, the hospital would have to place all future orders with their competitor which offers the same training. Managing stakeholder objectives and powers often comes down to trade-offs that both stakeholders can agree with. For example, a Chief Financial Officer may need the department to reduce costs, which conflicts with the doctor’s concerns for reducing equipment downtime. A trade-off the manager could suggest is sending a technician to specialized training which would allow the hospital to cancel an expensive service contract with a manufacture or third party maintenance company.