Psychiatric Solutions Inc.Peak Behavioral Health Services, LLCCase Analysis

By:Ernesto AvilaNorma AvilaAndrea Berg

PSI History

PSI owns or leases 34 freestanding psychiatric inpatient facilities

75% revenue is from inpatient services

Remaining 25% generated through management contracts with government agencies and medical surgical hospitals

1 out 3 companies competing for national dominance in inpatient psychiatric care

PSI Mission Statement

Committed to creating a corporate culture which promotes integrity as a fundamental for all decisions by its employees and those with whom the company deals.

Foster an atmosphere of trust, respect, and loyalty from patients, employees, consultants, etc.

Meet or exceed government regulations and laws.

Peak Behavioral Health Services, LLC PBHS was acquired by PSI in June

2004 Private psychiatric 144 bed hospital Located in Santa Teresa, NM Philosophy: mental disorders are a

result of biological, psychological and social factors

Services: Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) Residential Treatment Center (RTC) for

children and adolescents ages 6-18

Strengths

PSI merged with PMR Corporation in 2002

Strong competitor in psychiatric facilities

Rapid Growth

Remarkable and highly trained staff

Wide variety of services

Weaknesses

Bad press influences

Staff past mistakes

Low staff-patient ratio compared to other hospitals

Opportunities

Aetna buys EAP from Psychiatric Solutions

Awards received

Recent acquisitions

Threats

Universal Health Services and Ardent Health Services which are private companies and ranked 1 and 2 respectively

Unsatisfactory patient visit reviews

Current economy

Communication Problem

Communication between: Business Development Department

Admissions Department

Negatively impacting PBHS

Communication Problem Business Development Dept.

Business Development Department (BDD) composed of 4 non-clinical, non-business degreed individuals

Director with four years in the position Senior marketer with three years in the

position Junior marketer with two years in the

position One marketer with under a year in the

position

Communication ProblemAdmissions DepartmentAdmission Department has one

licensed master level clinician per shift

One clinician covering two twelve hour shifts on the weekends.

All rotate on-call schedule to cover remainder 24 uncovered weekend hours

Clinicians are licensed to assess the psychological status of patients and make recommendations

When admissions’ staff is busy, calls are rerouted to an unqualified member of the marketing department

Communication Problem

Marketers refer unqualified patients in for free assessment

Marketers lack necessary in-depth clinical understanding

Marketers try to maintain a high number of referrals

Communication Problem

Admissions staff spend time processing patients who are not being admitted

Business Development Department blames the Admissions Department for the turning patients away

Consequences of Communication ProblemPatients are not served at PBHSDisservice:

Patient Admissions Department Referral source

Patient wait long hours to be seenBusiness Development Department

perceives this as the Admissions Department only accepting 1 out of 10 patients at a time

Opposing View

PBHS does not feel that this is an issue, rather that this is just the nature of the business

Senior Management believes that the higher number of phone calls will in turn provide a higher profit

Solution/Recommendation #1 Adhere PSI’s local and regional

marketing teams standards by: Introducing clinical and business

development representatives together

This will enhance both departments to improve the company

Combined expertise of these experts will make both departments well-rounded

Solution/Recommendation #2Hire individuals that have an

professional business degree for the Business Development Department

These individuals will perform at professional level to improve the company

Solution/Recommendation #3Merge Business Development and

Admissions Department under one director

This would call for common goals and would minimize conflict while increasing accountability

Merge the two departments under one director to create a common goals and eliminate the blame game

It will reduce the competition between the two departments

Solution/Recommendation #4 Have a teambuilding exercise that is

mandatory for both departments to improve the relationship among them

Use the rope course that is on sit at PBHS to show that they are all on the same team and learn to trust each other

Solution/Recommendation #5 Downsize the Business Development

Department from 4 to 1 staff member.

Use additional funds to hire another full time Admission Department clinician to help the current staff

This will allow for quicker response times for referrals

Conclusions

PBHS has a strong foundation to be leading psychiatric hospital in the El Paso/Las Cruces communities

Proposed solutions may assist the hospital in restoring credibility

Hospital will regain community confidence and will greatly succeed