Healthcare Strategic Planning
ACHE Management Series Editorial Board
Trudy Land, FACHE, Chairman
Executive Healthcare Services
Mark C. Brown, FACHE
Lake City Medical Center-Mayo Health System
Christina R. Campos
Guadalupe County Hospital
Terence T. Cunningham III, FACHE
Shriners Hospitals for Children Los Angeles
David A. Dis
ow, FACHE
University of Cincinnati
Scott A. Haraty, FACHE
North Chicago VA Medical Cente
Natalie D. Lamberton
Paul A. Milton, FACHE
Ellis Hospital
Greg Napps, FACHE
Bon Secours St. Mary's Hospital
James J. Sapienza, FACHE
MultiCare Health System
Arthur S. Sho
, FACHE
Arthur S. Sho
& Associates Inc.
Janet C. Sternberg, FACHE
Huron Medical Cente
HEALTHCARE
STRATEGIC
PLANNING
T H I R D E D I T I O N
Alan M. Zuckerman, FACHE, FAAHC
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Zuckerman, Alan M.
Healthcare strategic planning / Alan M. Zuckerman. -- 3rd ed.
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Includes bibliographical references and index.
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Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
1. Is Strategic Planning Still Relevant?
2. Organizing for Successful Strategic Planning:12 Critical Steps
3. Activity I: Analyzing the Environment
4. Activity II: Identifying Organizational Direction
5. Activity III: Strategy Formulation
6. Activity IV: Transitioning to Implementation
7. Major Planning Process Considerations
8. Realizing Benefits from Strategic Planning
9. Making Planning Stick: From Implementation to Managing Strategically
10. The Annual Strategic Plan Update
11. Encouraging Strategic Thinking
12. Future Challenges for Strategic Planning and Planners
References
Index
About the Autho
Acknowledgments
I hope you enjoy the third edition of Healthcare Strategic Planning as much as I enjoyed
writing it. I appreciate all of the suggestions and ideas given to me over the past six years by
my clients, students in my ACHE courses, and colleagues. As a result of their input, this new
edition is a much better guide to healthcare strategic planning.
There are three groups I would particularly like to acknowledge for their contributions to
this third edition. First of all are my clients from the past six years, and especially those
organizations that generously allowed me to share aspects of their strategic plans and
processes with the field. They include the following:
AtlantiCare, Egg Ha
or Township, New Jersey
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri
British Columbia Children's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia
Commonwealth Medicine/University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester,
Massachusetts
Health First, Inc., Melbourne, Florida
High Point Regional Health System, High Point, North Carolina
Hunterdon Healthcare System, Flemington, New Jersey
Memorial Health System, Springfield, Illinois
TriHealth, Cincinnati, Ohio
UCSD Health System, San Diego, California
UW Health, Madison, Wisconsin
Wayne Memorial Health System, Wayne, Pennsylvania
Second are my colleagues at our consulting firm, Health Strategies & Solutions, Inc.
Particular kudos go to Susan Arnold, marketing director, who, as before, shepherded the
project from start to finish, and to Kelly Raible, marketing manager, who was a jack-of-all-
trades in researching, editing, formatting, and any other task she was asked to do to get the
job done.
The third group is, of course, my family, for allowing me to spend so much time on this
and other “volunteer” activities. Thanks to my wife, Rita, especially. My children, Seth and
Joanna, who suffered through the writing of edition one and two when they needed me to
play, chauffeur, help with homework, or cook, are now on their own and didn't have much
input this time, except for an occasional smart remark. But, interestingly, both have found
my expertise in strategic planning useful now that they are out in the real world, so have a
new understanding of the value of this work that many of you have already realized.
Alan M. Zuckerman
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
August 2011
Preface
The first edition of Healthcare Strategic Planning, published in 1998, was my first foray into
ook publishing. My subsequent books, while modestly successful, did not make the cut fo
second editions. Upon reflection, I believe this is a testament to the staying power and
elevancy of the topic of healthcare strategic planning and the need for a practical, how-to
ook that leads readers through the strategic planning process.
I have been pleased and a bit overwhelmed by the response of healthcare professionals to
this book. The tools, tips, and examples from healthcare organizations that face simila
pitfalls and opportunities when planning for the future have resonated with leaders in the
field who are in the midst of the most transformational change ever experienced by the US
healthcare delivery system. Many have shared examples of how the book helped them
personally and how it impacted their organizations. A number have suggested improvements
ased on their own experiences.
So as I approached the writing of this third edition, I had ample material for improving
upon earlier editions by sharing new research and contemporary tools and examples that
should appeal to all healthcare organizations—whether their needs are strategic fine tuning o
major overhauls in strategic direction. This third edition of Healthcare Strategic Planning is
truly new and improved. I hope it will be as useful and helpful to the field as the first and
second editions were.
What has been retained in the third edition is the basic structure of the recommended
strategic planning approach. Chapters 3 through 6, which review each component of the
strategic planning process, and chapters 2 and 7, which address preplanning preparation and
planning process issues, present significant and important new material.
Here is a summary of the new material in each chapter:
Chapter 1—Is Strategic Planning Still Relevant? This chapter includes new research
and thinking about strategic planning within and outside of healthcare. New exhibits
are presented as well, including a nonlinear strategic planning process approach.
Chapter 2—Organizing for Successful Strategic Planning: 12 Critical Steps. This
chapter presents new potential objectives for strategic planning that reflect the
apidly changing market conditions being experienced nationwide.
Chapter 3—Activity I: Analyzing the Environment. A number of exhibits and
examples have been added and updated to better illustrate the intricacies of the
environmental assessment.
Chapter 4—Activity II: Identifying Organizational Direction. All of the examples of
mission, vision, strategy, and values statements have been updated and improved,
and the guidance material about how to develop these statements has been reshaped,
sharpened, and expanded.
Chapter 5—Activity III: Formulating Strategy. Many new and revised examples and
tools are included in this chapter along with a new section on contingency planning.
Chapter 6—Activity IV: Transitioning to Implementation. The transition from
planning to implementation has proven to be a difficult task for many organizations.
Specific guidance on this topic is provided in this chapter, including a strategic plan
summary example that includes pillars of excellence, an implementation plan format,
transition management guidelines, and ideas for communicating and rolling out the
plan's findings and recommendations to stakeholders.
Chapter 7—Major Planning Process Considerations. Additional guidance on
esearch approaches is presented, and new material on how to advance the planning
process to the next level, including process improvement tips and bottom-up
planning, has been incorporated.
Chapter 8—Realizing Benefits from Strategic Planning. This chapter argues that
strategic planning needs to produce tangible, important benefits to remain relevant
and suggests that most healthcare organizations should attempt to realize benefits in
four
oad categories: products/markets, finances, operations, and community health.
Chapter 9—Making Planning Stick: From Implementation to Managing Strategically.
Several new exhibits present contemporary thinking about ba
iers to strategy
execution, a concise overview of ongoing strategic planning activities, and an action
plan progress review example.
Chapter 10—The Annual Strategic Plan Update. Many healthcare organizations
conduct an annual planning update. This topic, only
iefly discussed in the first
edition, is expanded in the third edition with new case studies of Commonwealth
Medicine and AtlantiCare.
Chapter 11—Encouraging Strategic Thinking. Substantial new material on strategic
thinking has been added as this concept continues to garner interest within and
outside of healthcare. The red ocean and blue ocean concepts are examined in detail.
Chapter 12—Future Challenges for Strategic Planning and Planners. A new section
in this chapter describes the five qualities of planning practices at path
eaking
companies outside of healthcare.
For instructors who use this book in their classes, all exhibits from the book are available
on PowerPoint slides. For access, please write to XXXXXXXXXX.
Ad hoc planning, educated guesses, and intuition have allowed some organizations to
mailto: XXXXXXXXXX
survive, although many have now succumbed to the cu
ent wave of hospital and system
consolidation and closure. These approaches alone will not serve healthcare organizations
well as