Running head: RISK MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT

Risk Management Assessment Lisa Christopher HCS/451 June 4, 2012 Oscar Garcia

RISK MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT

Risk Management Assessment When looking at organizations and the risks that they have to manage on a daily basis, we see where policies, procedures, and outcomes come into play. Though risks are different and challenge organizations in different ways, there are steps that every organization should take to identify and manage their risks. These risks that organizations take affect not only the organization but the stakeholders as well. There are types of education, training, and/or policies that help the hospital to mitigate risks within the organization. Through the risks that organizations take, the purpose of the risk management team shines through to prove that these organizations can compete with others and rise above other organizations. The main purpose of risk management in the health care organizations are described in Chapter 1 of the Risk Management Handbook stating, health care risk management has moved from a discipline focused almost exclusively on medical professional liability issues to a profession concerned with all risks associate with accidental losses facing a health care organization, (Carroll, 2009). This statement shows the health care organizations not only are trying to protect their company as a whole, but everyone and everything involved. In the hospital setting, providers have come to realize effective risk management and have developed formalized programs, this risk management has been moving towards the concept of enterprise risk management and considering the myriad of complex legal, regulatory, political business and financial risks, (Carroll, 2009) that they are facing. The purpose of risk management in the hospital setting is not only to protect the organization and its employees, but the patients, their friends and families, and all individuals involved. While all organizations have mission statements, hospital mission statements involve providing care in an excellent manner while having professionalism, education, and training behind the policies and procedures in place.

RISK MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT

Though there are many steps in the risk management process, there are key steps to identify and manage these risks. Risk identification sets out to identify an organizations exposure to uncertainty, (Airmic, 2002). These steps include identify and analyze loss exposures, consider alternate risk techniques, select what appears to be the best risk management technique or combination of techniques, implement the selected techniques, and monitor and improve the risk management program, (Carroll, 2009). The key step to identifying the risks is step 1: Identify and Analyze loss exposures. In this step the risk management professional becomes aware of the risks in the environment that constitute potential loss exposures for the institution. When looking to be aware of these risks, organizations use different risk identification systems. These systems include incident reporting, generic occurrence screening, patient complaints and satisfaction survey results, prior medical professional liability, property and casualty, and workers compensation claims data, surveys by the Joint Commission, the national committee on quality assurance, liability or other insurers and risk management consultants, state licensure surveys, contracts, leases and other agreements, information generated through the facilitys infection control and performance improvement functions and informal discussions with managers and staff (Carroll, 2009). Once the organization identifies the risks involved and then they need to manage these risks by selecting the best risk management techniques. To manage these risks with the best technique the organization needs to forecast the effects of the risk management options and how it will affect the organization to fulfill its goals. Then it needs to define and apply criteria to measure how each risk management technique contributes to the organizations objectives in a cost effective way. When looking at risks that each organization could potentially have, one has to look at the organization itself. In a hospital setting the risk management team must keep in mind their

RISK MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT

mission statement of the hospital as a whole. Most hospital mission statements indicate their mission is to provide quality health services and facilities for the community to promote wellness with the best services possible. Within these mission statements we see possible risks all over the place where policies and procedures have been put into place to diminish these risks. A typical risk in the hospital setting is patient safety, where providers (doctors and nurses) need to be aware of what is going on in each of their patients rooms, the patients current health condition, how many visitors each patient can and does have and the potential problems from their health issue. Another typical risk in the hospital setting would be obtaining insurance and billing information so that the hospital can bill the correct insurance company or person. If the hospital has the wrong information or no information at all such as names, addresses, and phone numbers on file then the payment for services is limited to whatever they received when the patient came in to the hospital. Another typical risk in the hospital would be avoiding lawsuits through employees and personnel following all protocols, procedures and policies that the hospital has set forth. When following these protocols, procedures, and policies it minimizes the amount of current lawsuits and potential lawsuits that could become millions of dollars leaving the hospital. When looking at these potential risks, the hospital is not the only one that could be potentially losing in the outcome of these risks, it could be all stakeholders involved such as individuals and organizations that are actively involved in the works or whose interests may be affected as a result of works execution or completion, (Hajialikhani, 2008). All of these risks could potentially be fatal to the patient, loss of income and potential of money being lost as well to the hospital. Following protocols and procedures proves training in the health care field. When hiring new employees in the hospital settings certain education goals have to be met for each position,

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degrees and credentialing have to be held by doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and certified nursing assistants. While these education goals have been met by the individuals to obtain their career goals, continuing education credits must be obtained on a yearly basis by personnel to continue to hold their licenses and their jobs. Training in the health care field and hospital setting needs to be strict and kept in place to keep the hospital from losing money through lawsuits and income losses. Policies in the hospital setting must be followed in order to provide safety for the employees and patients and their families. Through risk management we see that hospitals and health care facilities have to have certain steps, procedures, policies in place to provide the best services to their patients while keeping everyone involved safe and satisfied. These risks that hospitals take to improve their organizations show that they care through taking into consideration what their patients have to say through surveys and their satisfaction while receiving services at the hospital. References Airmic. (2002). Risk Management Standard. Retrieved from http:// (2008). 77-CP&D-12. Retrieved from http://www.international.icomos.org/quebec2008/cd/toindex/77_pdf/77CP7D-12.pdf Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. (2004). COSO_ERM Executive Summary. Retrieved from http://www.coso.org/documents/COSO_ERM_ExecutiveSummary.pdf Carroll, R. L. (2009). Risk management handbook for health care organizations (Student Ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Hajialikhani (2008). 77-CP&D-12. Retrieved from http://www.international.icomos.org/quebec2008/cd/toindex/77_pdf/77-CP7D-12.pdf

RISK MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT