Capella University’s MHA‑FPX5010 (Strategic Health Care Planning)

Assessment 1: Strategic Planning and Environmental Analysis Briefing Report

 Selecting the right factor from the AHA Environmental Scan and pairing it with a proven analytical tool like SWOT or TOWS gives healthcare leaders the clearest path to a strategic plan that holds up under board scrutiny.

Assessment 1

An organization needs to understand the environments in which it operates. The external environment includes competitors, partners in collaboration, governmental and social factors, as well as economic factors. The internal environment includes all the systems and processes involved in the organization’s operations. Leaders who ignore either side of this equation often find their strategic plans collapse during implementation because they missed a critical threat or overlooked an internal weakness.

Analyzing the external and internal environments tells an organization where it stands and provides a framework for making strategic decisions. In this assessment, you will examine environmental issues that affect the organization you selected.

Reminder: Complete the assessments in this course in the order they are presented. You will complete sections of a strategic management plan for each assessment. In this assessment, you will continue to use the same organization and the factor from the AHA’s most recent Environmental Scan report that you chose in the first assessment.

Professional Context

Once health care leaders understand the importance of strategic planning and the organization’s key core concepts and components, they must determine if the goals of the organization align with its mission, vision, and values and if the current strategic plan has been met. That alignment check prevents the common trap of pursuing initiatives that look impressive on paper but drift from the organization’s stated purpose.

Next, health care organization leaders need to understand the internal and external environment in which they operate and anticipate and respond to the significant shifts taking place within that environment. Most often this is established by analyzing the external and internal environments that affect an organization’s operations.

In an internal environmental analysis, leaders carefully examine each function or organizational subsystem and then develop and analyze a list of strengths and weaknesses for each. This approach has been successful in some cases; however, an internal environmental analysis alone does not adequately address strategic issues. Health care leaders must assess both the internal and external factors that affect the organization’s outcomes, and this can be achieved by conducting both an internal and an external analysis.

In an external environmental analysis, leaders carefully conduct an environmental scan of the external factors that impact its operations. An environmental analysis enables the organization to identify current challenges and opportunities in preparation for future strategic planning and goal identification. Insightful diagnosis of a company’s external and internal environments is a prerequisite for leaders to succeed in crafting a strategy that is an excellent fit within the company’s operations. These evaluations assist the organization in exploring alternative strategies and business models that culminate in leaders choosing a specific strategy.

Health care leaders often use tools such as the TOWS, SWOT, PESTEL, et cetera, to evaluate where the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats exist. In addition, an essential element in evaluating a health care organization’s overall strategy entails examining the company’s resources and competitive capabilities. The weaknesses and threats often indicate issues that should be addressed. This will help the organization clarify its strategic objectives to drive and improve all aspects of operations. A well-executed environmental analysis provides the basis for crafting the organization’s strategic plan.

Assessment Instructions

For this assessment, use the Environmental Analysis Briefing Report Assessment Template [DOCX]Download Environmental Analysis Briefing Report Assessment Template [DOCX] to prepare a 2–3 page briefing report. Imagine creating this report for your CEO to review. Keep your report precise, clear, and professional. For this report:

1. Provide a brief introduction to this report and its purpose.

2. Use the factor from the AHA’s most recent Environmental Scan report you chose for the first assessment and evaluate 2–3 environmental issues you feel best relate to this factor and your organization.

3. Using a tool of your choice or a tool your current workplace uses (e.g., TOWS, SWOT, PESTEL, et cetera), evaluate where the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats exist related to this factor.

4. Explain the tool you chose for the internal and external analysis and why you chose it.

• For example, if you chose workforce as your factor, what tool would you use to determine the issues?

5. Explain the environmental issues you identified using the tool you chose and that are related to the AHA factor you chose. Explain how these issues impact the growth of the organization and why.

6. Explain your plan to address the issues identified in your analysis.

7. Use evidence to support your assertions about how you would address the issues.

• For example, for workforce, you might consider SHRM as one of your resources.

• Depending on the factor chosen, consider additional data and resources from reputable sources and associations such as the American Hospital Association (AHA), American College of Health care Executives (ACHE), National Center for Health care Leadership (NHCL), National Institutes of Health (NIH), et cetera.

8. Attach the tool you used as an appendix after the reference page of your report.

Additional Requirements

9. Document Format: Use the Environmental Analysis Briefing Report Assessment Template [DOCX]Download Environmental Analysis Briefing Report Assessment Template [DOCX] provided to create a professional executive summary.

10. Document Length: 2–3 double spaced pages, not including the title, reference, or appendix pages.

11. Supporting Evidence: Include at least 3–5 academic or scholarly sources that match their in-text citations.

• Readers of your summary will want to know the sources of your information, including any authoritative sources that support your analysis. Be sure to include all applicable sources.

• Supporting evidence may include current accrediting body standards, industry standards, and government agency reports, including such sources as the AHA, National Academy of Medicine, Harvard Business Review (HBR), et cetera.

• One source should be the AHA’s most recent Environmental Scan report.

12. APA Formatting: Format in-text citations and references according to current APA style and formatting. Evidence and APA can help with this.

13. Submission Requirements: Submit your briefing report and appendix in the Assessment area.

Sample Answer Excerpts

Aligning AHA Scan Factors With SWOT Analysis

The 2025 AHA Environmental Scan identifies workforce as a persistent pressure point, noting that clinician burnout, administrative burden, and staffing shortages continue to challenge hospitals nationwide (American Hospital Association, 2024). Selecting a strategic analysis tool begins with the factor under examination, and for workforce-related issues, a SWOT framework offers the most direct route to actionable insight. A SWOT analysis captures internal strengths such as a hospital’s established residency pipeline while simultaneously mapping weaknesses like high turnover rates in nursing units. External opportunities might include partnerships with community colleges to build new entry pathways into healthcare careers. Threats typically emerge from competitor hospitals offering signing bonuses that pull talent away from smaller systems. The tool works well here because workforce dynamics sit at the intersection of internal capability and external labor market forces. A PESTEL analysis could supplement this view by surfacing political and economic variables that shape labor supply, though SWOT alone provides sufficient structure for a focused briefing report.

Strategic Planning Through Environmental Scan Data

Healthcare organizations that ground their strategic planning in verified data from the AHA Environmental Scan position themselves to make defensible resource allocation decisions. The 2025 Scan specifically highlights that hospitals are investing in artificial intelligence technology and tech skills development to alleviate administrative burden and enhance workforce flexibility (American Hospital Association, 2024). These investments represent concrete responses to the staffing shortages documented across the sector. A TOWS matrix takes this a step further by pairing external opportunities with internal strengths to generate specific strategic options. For instance, a hospital with strong informatics capabilities could leverage AI-driven scheduling tools to reduce nurse burnout. The resulting strategies become testable hypotheses rather than vague aspirations. Leaders who present these options to their boards with supporting evidence from peer-reviewed literature tend to secure faster approval for implementation funding. That outcome matters because workforce instability directly threatens patient safety metrics and operational margins. Strategic workforce planning research confirms that effective interventions require integrated approaches spanning recruitment, retention, and role redesign (Sutton et al., 2023).

Frequently Asked Question

Which environmental analysis tool works best for a healthcare workforce briefing report?

A SWOT analysis remains the most widely used and practical tool for healthcare environmental assessments, though combining it with a TOWS matrix strengthens strategic option generation (Siddiqui, 2021). The choice ultimately depends on whether the report needs to describe the current landscape or prescribe specific actions.

Why This Matters in Practice

Hospitals that neglect environmental analysis often discover workforce gaps only after they disrupt patient care. A structured analysis prevents that outcome by forcing leaders to confront uncomfortable data before it becomes a crisis. The AHA Environmental Scan provides the external data; an internal analysis reveals whether the organization has the capacity to respond. Together, they create the evidence base for decisions that affect staffing ratios, technology investments, and community partnerships. Healthcare executives who master this analytical discipline build organizations that adapt rather than react.

References

American Hospital Association. (2024). 2025 environmental scan. https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2024/11/Environmental-Scan-2025.pdf

Siddiqui, A. A. (2021). SWOT analysis (or SWOT matrix) tool as a strategic planning and management technique in the health care industry and its advantages. Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, *39*(2), 31025–31030. https://doi.org/10.26717/BJSTR.2021.39.006287

Sutton, C., Prowse, J., McVey, L., Elshehaly, M., Neagu, D., Montague, J., Alvarado, N., Tissiman, C., O’Connell, K., Eyers, E., Faisal, M., & Randell, R. (2023). Strategic workforce planning in health and social care: An international perspective. A scoping review. Health Policy, *132*, 104827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2023.104827

Vojinović, N., & Stević, Ž. (2022). PESTEL analysis of the healthcare system with reference to the right to health during a pandemic. TEME, *46*(2), 437–455. https://doi.org/10.22190/TEME210911046V

World Health Organization. (2023). What steps can improve and promote investment in the health and care workforce? European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37582126/

________________________________________________________________________

Assessment 2

Environmental Analysis Briefing Report: A Strategic Management Plan Assessment

Conducting a rigorous environmental analysis of the external and internal forces shaping your healthcare organization is the single most reliable way to translate AHA Environmental Scan data into a strategic plan that leaders, boards, and accreditors will actually trust.

Assessment 2 MHA‑FPX5010 Strategic Health Care Planning

Note: Each assessment in this course builds upon the work you have completed in previous assessments. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in the order they are presented. The sequence matters because every deliverable feeds into a cumulative strategic management plan that mirrors how real healthcare executives phase their planning cycles.

An organization needs to understand the environments in which it operates. The external environment includes competitors, partners in collaboration, governmental and social factors, as well as economic factors. The internal environment includes all the systems and processes involved in the organization’s operations. Leaders who skip either half of this equation often find their strategic plans collapse during implementation.

Analyzing the external and internal environments tells an organization where it stands and provides a framework for making strategic decisions. In this assessment, you will examine environmental issues that affect the organization you selected.

Reminder: Complete the assessments in this course in the order they are presented. You will complete sections of a strategic management plan for each assessment. In this assessment, you will continue to use the same organization and the factor from the AHA’s most recent Environmental Scan report that you chose in the first assessment.

Professional Context

Once health care leaders understand the importance of strategic planning and the organization’s key core concepts and components, they must determine if the goals of the organization align with its mission, vision, and values and if the current strategic plan has been met. That alignment check prevents the common trap of pursuing initiatives that look impressive on paper but drift from the organization’s stated purpose.

Next, health care organization leaders need to understand the internal and external environment in which they operate and anticipate and respond to the significant shifts taking place within that environment. Most often this is established by analyzing the external and internal environments that affect an organization’s operations.

In an internal environmental analysis, leaders carefully examine each function or organizational subsystem and then develop and analyze a list of strengths and weaknesses for each. This approach has been successful in some cases; however, an internal environmental analysis alone does not adequately address strategic issues. Health care leaders must assess both the internal and external factors that affect the organization’s outcomes, and this can be achieved by conducting both an internal and an external analysis.

In an external environmental analysis, leaders carefully conduct an environmental scan of the external factors that impact its operations. An environmental analysis enables the organization to identify current challenges and opportunities in preparation for future strategic planning and goal identification. Insightful diagnosis of a company’s external and internal environments is a prerequisite for leaders to succeed in crafting a strategy that is an excellent fit within the company’s operations. These evaluations assist the organization in exploring alternative strategies and business models that culminate in leaders choosing a specific strategy.

Health care leaders often use tools such as the TOWS, SWOT, PESTEL, et cetera, to evaluate where the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats exist. In addition, an essential element in evaluating a health care organization’s overall strategy entails examining the company’s resources and competitive capabilities. The weaknesses and threats often indicate issues that should be addressed. This will help the organization clarify its strategic objectives to drive and improve all aspects of operations. A well-executed environmental analysis provides the basis for crafting the organization’s strategic plan.

Assessment Instructions

For this assessment, use the Environmental Analysis Briefing Report Assessment Template [DOCX]Download Environmental Analysis Briefing Report Assessment Template [DOCX] to prepare a 2–3 page briefing report. Imagine creating this report for your CEO to review. Keep your report precise, clear, and professional. For this report:

1. Provide a brief introduction to this report and its purpose.

2. Use the factor from the AHA’s most recent Environmental Scan report you chose for the first assessment and evaluate 2–3 environmental issues you feel best relate to this factor and your organization.

3. Using a tool of your choice or a tool your current workplace uses (e.g., TOWS, SWOT, PESTEL, et cetera), evaluate where the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats exist related to this factor.

4. Explain the tool you chose for the internal and external analysis and why you chose it.

• For example, if you chose workforce as your factor, what tool would you use to determine the issues?

5. Explain the environmental issues you identified using the tool you chose and that are related to the AHA factor you chose. Explain how these issues impact the growth of the organization and why.

6. Explain your plan to address the issues identified in your analysis.

7. Use evidence to support your assertions about how you would address the issues.

• For example, for workforce, you might consider SHRM as one of your resources.

• Depending on the factor chosen, consider additional data and resources from reputable sources and associations such as the American Hospital Association (AHA), American College of Health care Executives (ACHE), National Center for Health care Leadership (NHCL), National Institutes of Health (NIH), et cetera.

8. Attach the tool you used as an appendix after the reference page of your report.

Additional Requirements

9. Document Format: Use the Environmental Analysis Briefing Report Assessment Template [DOCX]Download Environmental Analysis Briefing Report Assessment Template [DOCX] provided to create a professional executive summary.

10. Document Length: 2–3 double spaced pages, not including the title, reference, or appendix pages.

11. Supporting Evidence: Include at least 3–5 academic or scholarly sources that match their in-text citations.

• Readers of your summary will want to know the sources of your information, including any authoritative sources that support your analysis. Be sure to include all applicable sources.

• Supporting evidence may include current accrediting body standards, industry standards, and government agency reports, including such sources as the AHA, National Academy of Medicine, Harvard Business Review (HBR), et cetera.

• One source should be the AHA’s most recent Environmental Scan report.

12. APA Formatting: Format in-text citations and references according to current APA style and formatting. Evidence and APA can help with this.

13. Submission Requirements: Submit your briefing report and appendix in the Assessment area.

Sample Answer Excerpts

Aligning AHA Scan Factors With SWOT Analysis

The 2025 AHA Environmental Scan identifies workforce as a persistent pressure point, noting that clinician burnout, administrative burden, and staffing shortages continue to challenge hospitals nationwide (American Hospital Association, 2024). Selecting a strategic analysis tool begins with the factor under examination, and for workforce-related issues, a SWOT framework offers the most direct route to actionable insight. A SWOT analysis captures internal strengths such as a hospital’s established residency pipeline while simultaneously mapping weaknesses like high turnover rates in nursing units. External opportunities might include partnerships with community colleges to build new entry pathways into healthcare careers. Threats typically emerge from competitor hospitals offering signing bonuses that pull talent away from smaller systems. The tool works well here because workforce dynamics sit at the intersection of internal capability and external labor market forces. A PESTEL analysis could supplement this view by surfacing political and economic variables that shape labor supply, though SWOT alone provides sufficient structure for a focused briefing report.

Strategic Planning Through Environmental Scan Data

Healthcare organizations that ground their strategic planning in verified data from the AHA Environmental Scan position themselves to make defensible resource allocation decisions. The 2025 Scan specifically highlights that hospitals are investing in artificial intelligence technology and tech skills development to alleviate administrative burden and enhance workforce flexibility (American Hospital Association, 2024). These investments represent concrete responses to the staffing shortages documented across the sector. A TOWS matrix takes this a step further by pairing external opportunities with internal strengths to generate specific strategic options. For instance, a hospital with strong informatics capabilities could leverage AI-driven scheduling tools to reduce nurse burnout. The resulting strategies become testable hypotheses rather than vague aspirations. Leaders who present these options to their boards with supporting evidence from peer-reviewed literature tend to secure faster approval for implementation funding. That outcome matters because workforce instability directly threatens patient safety metrics and operational margins. Strategic workforce planning research confirms that effective interventions require integrated approaches spanning recruitment, retention, and role redesign (Sutton et al., 2023).

Frequently Asked Question

Which environmental analysis tool works best for a healthcare workforce briefing report?

A SWOT analysis remains the most widely used and practical tool for healthcare environmental assessments, though combining it with a TOWS matrix strengthens strategic option generation (Siddiqui, 2021). The choice ultimately depends on whether the report needs to describe the current landscape or prescribe specific actions.

Why This Matters in Practice

Hospitals that neglect environmental analysis often discover workforce gaps only after they disrupt patient care. A structured analysis prevents that outcome by forcing leaders to confront uncomfortable data before it becomes a crisis. The AHA Environmental Scan provides the external data; an internal analysis reveals whether the organization has the capacity to respond. Together, they create the evidence base for decisions that affect staffing ratios, technology investments, and community partnerships. Healthcare executives who master this analytical discipline build organizations that adapt rather than react.

References

American Hospital Association. (2024). 2025 environmental scan. https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2024/11/Environmental-Scan-2025.pdf

Siddiqui, A. A. (2021). SWOT analysis (or SWOT matrix) tool as a strategic planning and management technique in the health care industry and its advantages. Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, *39*(2), 31025–31030. https://doi.org/10.26717/BJSTR.2021.39.006287

Sutton, C., Prowse, J., McVey, L., Elshehaly, M., Neagu, D., Montague, J., Alvarado, N., Tissiman, C., O’Connell, K., Eyers, E., Faisal, M., & Randell, R. (2023). Strategic workforce planning in health and social care: An international perspective. A scoping review. Health Policy, *132*, 104827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2023.104827

Vojinović, N., & Stević, Ž. (2022). PESTEL analysis of the healthcare system with reference to the right to health during a pandemic. TEME, *46*(2), 437–455. https://doi.org/10.22190/TEME210911046V

World Health Organization. (2023). What steps can improve and promote investment in the health and care workforce? European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37582126/

________________________________________________________________________

Assessment 3

Assessment 3: Strategic Action Plan and Stakeholder Communication Presentation

 Building a persuasive executive presentation that translates your environmental analysis into a concrete strategic action plan with a stakeholder communication strategy is the capstone skill that separates healthcare leaders who plan from those who actually execute change.

Assessment 3

Now you have a solid understanding of the importance of strategic planning, key core concepts and components for the organization you selected, and goals that align with its mission, vision, and values. You have now evaluated where the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats exist.

The next step in strategic planning is creating an action plan and communicating that plan to its stakeholders. The following two brief videos provide insights into creating a strategic action plan and communicating it to stakeholders.

Watch the brief video in the following reading list for tips on creating an action plan.

• Assessment 3: Strategic Action Plans reading list.

Watch the brief video in the following reading list to learn about communicating an action plan.

• Assessment 3: Communicating Your Strategy reading list.

Strategic action plans help organizations stay on track. Keep this in mind as you consider the goals to be achieved and how you plan to make your action plan a reality. Remember that action plans are not set in stone. Rather they are a guide for organizations to review often as their organization grows or declines. It is a plan that must be adjusted along the way.

As you create a communication plan, you will need to consider the best way to communicate your action plan to the organization’s stakeholders. The successful implementation of a strategic plan requires effective communication and a thorough understanding of not only the role of the organization within the greater community, but the role of leadership within the organization. By effectively engaging stakeholders and understanding the philosophy of strategic management, leaders can mitigate challenges and hurdles that face those directing change.

Consider the leadership soft skills essential for delivering the intended message to your audience. For example, skills such as communication, motivating others, teamwork, problem-solving, adaptability, delegation, active listening, and so forth, are important. Basically, consider how you will gain buy-in and motivate your stakeholders to get on board.

Assessment Instructions

Create an executive presentation in the form of 8–10 PowerPoint slides and create an audio or video recording (5 minutes or less in length) of yourself making the presentation to your audience. The presentation must describe an action plan to address the identified issues and a communication strategy to share the action plan with the organization’s stakeholders.

In the PowerPoint presentation:

1. Briefly share the issues you identified in your second assessment.

2. Analyze how you would address the issues relevant to the factor you chose (your action plan).

• In your explanation include at least 3 actions.

3. Analyze the human resource and financial perspectives of your action plan.

• For example, if you chose the factor Better Care and Greater Value (affordability and access, quality and safety, value-based delivery and payment models), and determined that under accessibility and affordability there were customers who did not have a way to communicate or access follow-up care, an issue is identified. Now that you know this issue, perhaps your action plan to address the issue is partnering with Verizon or AT&T to provide cell phones to those customers who are not able to afford the means of communicating or participating in their plan of care. Keep in mind that means addressing the financial perspective and how this impacts operations.

4. Describe your communication strategy that addresses the identified issues related to the factor chosen in your initial assessment and the resulting action plan.

• Describe the effective leadership soft skills that are essential for this delivery. For example, skills such as communication, motivating others, teamwork, problem-solving, adaptability, delegation, active listening, et cetera.

• Describe a communication strategy that is appealing to your stakeholders.

• Describe how you will get your stakeholders motivated to climb on board with your action plan.

5. Your executive PowerPoint presentation should have the following basic structure. It should be 8–10 slides in length, not including the title and reference slides. Be sure to use an appealing slide design. The PowerPoint Presentations Library Guide can help.

• Slide 1: Title slide.

• Slide 2: Overview of the factor from the AHA Environmental Scan report you chose in the first assessment.

• Slides 3–5: Action Plan Initiatives (explain at least 3 action items based on your analysis in the second assessment).

• Slides 6–8: Communication Plan (consider leadership soft skills and best practices).

• Slide 9: Conclusion slide (highlights the important takeaways for your audience).

• Slide 10: Reference slide.

6. Presentation slides should consist only of bullet points to express the intended message. Add images where applicable.

7. Include detailed or in-depth discussion notes in the Notes section for each PowerPoint slide (the Notes section is required).

8. Proofread your presentation and make sure your citations and references are complete and are in APA format.

9. Create an audio or video recording of yourself presenting the PowerPoint presentation to your audience. This recording must be 5 minutes or less in length. You may use Kaltura or other compatible software. The Using Kaltura resource can help.

• Practice delivering your presentation to keep it less than 5 minutes in length.

• Think about the content and how it should be delivered. You want this to be a motivating and captivating presentation for your CEO. If the CEO is captivated, the other stakeholders will be captivated.

• As a current or future health care leader, your presentation is expected to be delivered clearly and professionally. Create this presentation as if you are presenting this to your workplace CEO.

Additional Requirements

• Assessment Format: PowerPoint slides and audio or video recording.

• PowerPoint Length: 8–10 slides, not including the title and reference slides.

• Recording Length: 5 minutes or less.

• Supporting Evidence: Include at least 3 academic or scholarly sources as needed to highlight and support strategies suggested and evidence-based assertions and best practices.

• APA Formatting: Format in-text citations and references according to current APA style and formatting. Evidence and APA can help with this.

• Submission Requirements: Submit your PowerPoint slides and recorded audio or video presentation in the Assessment area.

Sample Answer Excerpts

Translating Analysis Into Action

A strategic action plan converts the environmental issues you identified in Assessment 2 into specific, funded, and measurable initiatives that move your organization toward its goals. For a workforce-related factor, one action might involve launching a residency pipeline partnership with a local nursing school to address chronic vacancies. Another action could focus on deploying scheduling software that reduces administrative burden and gives clinicians more time for patient care. A third initiative might establish a retention bonus structure tied to tenure milestones, which research suggests reduces turnover costs significantly (Sutton et al., 2023). Each action requires a clear owner, a timeline, and a budget line. The human resource perspective demands that you assess whether current staff can implement these changes or whether you need to hire additional project managers. The financial perspective requires projecting costs against expected savings from reduced turnover and improved productivity. Leaders who present these numbers clearly to their boards tend to secure faster approval because the business case is transparent and grounded in data.

Communicating Strategy That Sticks

Communication strategy determines whether your action plan gains traction or collects dust on a shelf. Stakeholders ranging from frontline nurses to board members need to understand what changes, when they start, and what success looks like. Effective communication in healthcare strategy implementation often follows a structured cadence with regular updates and open feedback channels (Siddiqui, 2021). Leadership soft skills matter enormously here, and skills like active listening and adaptability often determine whether resistance becomes collaboration or derailment. A communication plan might include monthly town halls, a dedicated intranet page with progress dashboards, and one-on-one conversations with department heads. Motivating stakeholders requires connecting the action plan to their daily experience, such as showing how reduced administrative burden gives nurses more patient interaction time. The emotional case for change often matters as much as the financial one. Presenting your plan to a CEO means you must speak the language of both mission and margin, which is why your recording should balance heart and hard numbers. Leaders who master this balance build trust that outlasts any single initiative.

Frequently Asked Question

How long should the audio or video recording be for a strategic action plan presentation?

The recording must stay under five minutes, which forces you to prioritize your strongest arguments and practice deliberate pacing. Most students find that rehearsing three or four times brings the timing under control while keeping the delivery natural.

Why This Matters in Practice

Hospitals that communicate strategic changes poorly often see implementation stall within months. Nurses and physicians who feel excluded from planning resist new workflows, and that resistance costs money and morale. A well-designed communication strategy prevents this by giving stakeholders a voice before decisions harden. The presentation skills you practice here mirror what healthcare executives do weekly in boardrooms and leadership huddles. Mastering this assessment prepares you for the real work of leading change in complex organizations.

References

American Hospital Association. (2024). 2025 environmental scan. https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2024/11/Environmental-Scan-2025.pdf

Siddiqui, A. A. (2021). SWOT analysis (or SWOT matrix) tool as a strategic planning and management technique in the health care industry and its advantages. Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, *39*(2), 31025–31030. https://doi.org/10.26717/BJSTR.2021.39.006287

Sutton, C., Prowse, J., McVey, L., Elshehaly, M., Neagu, D., Montague, J., Alvarado, N., Tissiman, C., O’Connell, K., Eyers, E., Faisal, M., & Randell, R. (2023). Strategic workforce planning in health and social care: An international perspective. A scoping review. Health Policy, *132*, 104827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2023.104827

Vojinović, N., & Stević, Ž. (2022). PESTEL analysis of the healthcare system with reference to the right to health during a pandemic. TEME, *46*(2), 437–455. https://doi.org/10.22190/TEME210911046V

World Health Organization. (2023). What steps can improve and promote investment in the health and care workforce? European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37582126/

__________________________________________________________________________

Assessment 4: Strategic Plan Implementation and Evaluation

 Creating a measurable implementation plan with Balanced Scorecard benchmarks and SMART performance indicators transforms your strategic action plan from a document into a living framework that healthcare executives can track, adjust, and defend to their boards.

Assessment 4

Now you have a solid understanding of the importance of strategic planning, your selected organization’s key core concepts and components, and goals that align with its mission, vision, and values. You have evaluated where the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats exist. You also have created an action plan with goals and determined how it will be communicated to stakeholders.

Your final task will be creating an implementation plan and considering the metrics to evaluate the plan moving forward. If you were to create a real-life strategic plan, there are specific tools most leaders use in this process. The two most often used are the Balanced Scorecard and SMART goals.

Often balanced scorecards are created to communicate strategies, align strategies, and measure and monitor strategies. “The name ‘balanced scorecard’ comes from the idea of looking at strategic measures in addition to traditional financial measures to get a more ‘balanced’ view of performance” (Balanced Scorecard Institute, para. 1). It gives stakeholders a visual representation of goals or objectives that are being worked on, responsible parties, and ways these goals are being measured to track their success, e.g., with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Watch the brief video titled “What is a Balanced Scorecard?” in the following reading list to learn more about balanced scorecards.

• Assessment 4: Monitoring Plan Implementation reading list.

Once the goals of the strategic action plan are created, you must evaluate them. A popular method to consider when creating these KPIs or measurable goals is the SMART method (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). Using the SMART method also encourages accountability, because it creates ownership by indicating who will be responsible for accomplishing each goal.

Watch the brief video titled “How to Set SMART Goals: Goal Setting for Business” in the following reading list for a better understanding of the SMART method and how it is applied to creating goals so that you can measure them successfully.

• Assessment 4: Monitoring Plan Implementation reading list.

In this final assessment and section of your strategic plan you will create an executive-level implementation plan and specify how you will monitor this plan.

Reference

• Balanced Scorecard Institute. (n.d.). Balanced scorecard basics. https://balancedscorecard.org/bsc-basics-overview/

Assessment Instructions

Using the same organization and the same factor from the current AHA Environmental Scan report that you used in all the prior assessments, in a 4–5 page, double-spaced paper for the CEO, explain how you will help the organization successfully implement its strategic plan and how this plan will be evaluated.

In your paper:

• Provide a brief overview of the factor from the current AHA Environmental Scan report that you chose in the first assessment.

• Briefly explain the issues you identified in the second assessment and the action plan initiatives you created in the third assessment.

• This brief explanation should serve as a simple reminder of these items.

• Explain 4–5 steps you would take to implement your action plan.

• Do not just list ideas. Instead, provide an in-depth discussion behind each suggested step and explain why you think it will allow for a successful implementation.

• Evaluate the strategies you would suggest to ensure the plan is implemented successfully.

• Keep in mind the communication strategies you mentioned in the third assessment to persuade your stakeholders to climb on board.

• Create 4–5 meaningful benchmarks or performance measures and explain how you would use them to monitor the success of your implementation plan.

• Identify questions you would ask to reveal measurable goals.

• Consider the Balanced Scorecard and SMART methods here to help guide your responses.

• Your paper should include the following components:

• Title page.

• Introduction.

• Implementation plan.

• Evaluation plan.

• Conclusion.

• Reference page.

All the work you have done so far in this course has prepared you for this final step, and you are ready to present this document to your CEO.

Additional Requirements

• Document Length: 4–5 double spaced pages, not including the title page or reference page.

• Supporting Evidence: Include at least 4 scholarly and authoritative sources to support the steps you suggest and the performance indicators you chose.

• APA Formatting: Your paper, citations, and references should be formatted according to APA style and formatting guidelines. Evidence and APA can help with this.

• Submission Requirements: Submit your paper in the Assessment area.

Sample Answer Excerpts

Moving From Plan to Performance

Implementation begins with translating strategic goals into operational milestones that teams can act on immediately. For a workforce factor, one implementation step might involve forming a cross-functional task force that meets weekly to track hiring progress and address bottlenecks. Another step could require department leaders to complete quarterly staffing forecasts that feed into a centralized dashboard. A third step might establish a mentorship program pairing new hires with experienced clinicians to improve retention rates. Research on strategic workforce planning in health and social care demonstrates that integrated implementation approaches spanning recruitment, retention, and role redesign produce better outcomes than isolated interventions (Sutton et al., 2023). Each step demands clear ownership, realistic timelines, and adequate resource allocation. Leaders who assign accountability without providing support often watch their plans stall within the first quarter. Successful implementation requires both structure and flexibility, because healthcare environments shift rapidly and rigid plans break under pressure. The steps you outline in this paper should reflect that balance between discipline and adaptability.

Measuring What Matters

Evaluation transforms a strategic plan from a hopeful document into an accountable roadmap. The Balanced Scorecard framework offers four perspectives that work well for healthcare organizations: financial performance, patient outcomes, internal processes, and learning and growth. Each perspective connects to specific KPIs that reveal whether the plan is working. A SMART goal for reducing nurse turnover might read: “Reduce first-year nurse turnover from 28% to 18% within twelve months, measured monthly by the HR analytics team.” That goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Questions that reveal measurable goals often start with phrases like “How will we know success happened?” or “What number tells us we are on track?” Benchmarking against industry standards from sources like the American Hospital Association provides external context for internal metrics. The evaluation plan should specify who reviews the data, how often, and what triggers corrective action. Without those details, measurement becomes an exercise in collecting numbers nobody uses.

Frequently Asked Question

How many benchmarks should a strategic implementation plan include?

Most implementation plans benefit from four to five benchmarks that cover financial, operational, and workforce dimensions. Fewer than four often leaves critical gaps, while more than five can overwhelm tracking systems and dilute focus.

Why This Matters in Practice

Healthcare executives who skip rigorous implementation planning often discover problems only after budgets are spent and timelines have passed. A structured approach with SMART goals and Balanced Scorecard metrics catches deviations early, when correction costs less. The skills you practice in this assessment mirror what hospital leaders do every quarter when they report progress to boards and accreditors. Mastering implementation and evaluation positions you to lead change that actually sticks.

References

American Hospital Association. (2024). 2025 environmental scan. https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2024/11/Environmental-Scan-2025.pdf

Bjerke, M. B., & Renger, R. (2017). Being smart about writing SMART objectives. Evaluation and Program Planning, *61*, 125–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2016.12.009

Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (1996). The balanced scorecard: Translating strategy into action. Harvard Business School Press. https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=8831

Sutton, C., Prowse, J., McVey, L., Elshehaly, M., Neagu, D., Montague, J., Alvarado, N., Tissiman, C., O’Connell, K., Eyers, E., Faisal, M., & Randell, R. (2023). Strategic workforce planning in health and social care: An international perspective. A scoping review. Health Policy, *132*, 104827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2023.104827

World Health Organization. (2023). What steps can improve and promote investment in the health and care workforce? European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37582126/