Risk management would help to identify and then manage threats that could severely impact or bring down the organization. This could be done by reviewing operations of the organization, identifying potential threats to the organization and the likelihood of their occurrence, and then taking appropriate actions to address the most likely threats (McNamara, C., 1999).
Risk management also explores strategies to assess organization's susceptibility to risk. It minimizes adverse impacts of operational risk, market risk, and credit risk on resources, earnings, and cash flows through risk analysis. Organizations should regularly undertake comprehensive, focused assessment of potential risks to the organization. This focused assessment should occur at least twice a year by a team of staff members representing all the major functions of the organization. The assessment should be carefully planned, documented and methodically carried out. Healthcare organizations and facilities are among these organizations, which could benefit from well-implemented risk management. Healthcare organizations are among those organizations that face many risks associated with their operations. Long-term care (LTC) facilities are one of them.
The long-term care industry is in a state of crisis across the nation. An alarming number of states are experiencing dramatic increases for general liability and professional liability (GL/PL)
References: Bourdon, T. W. (2005, April). Long-term care continues to experience the worst liability cost increases in health care. Retrieved June 26, 2005, from http://www.aon.com/about/publications/focus/focus_2005_apr_11.jsp Boxerbaum, E. A., Donaldson, P. (2005, May). Respecting and protecting elders. Healthcare, p. 47-48. Cheeseman, J (2001). National Population Projections. Retrieved June 27, 2005, from, http://www.census.gov/population/www/pop-profile/natproj.html McNamara, C. (1999). Basic Considerations in Risk Management. Retrieved June 25, 2005, from http://www.mapnp.org/library/legal/rskmgmnt.htm