Strategic Planning

The very term “Strategy” has many different interpretations in common business usage, and is often misunderstood and misused. Strategy is the jewel on which the clockwork of an organization runs.

According to Webster, strategy comes from the Greek “strategia,” which means “generalship”. The source root of the word is in the military context, and suggests intelligence, planning and the careful use of resources to accomplish an end – victory. In the context of healthcare, senior living and aging services, virtually all of these elements apply, with the exception that “victory” means that the organization is able to fulfill its mission with an adequate margin to continue its existence and prosper.

Stackpole & Associates Assists Organizations to:

  • Identify and articulate strategies that are consistent and compelling
  • Integrate strategies into rock-solid competitive positioning
  • Create alignments between articulated strategies and operating procedures
  • Develop plans for implementing strategic positions

Strategic positioning, and the market differentiation that results are distinct from efforts to improve operational effectiveness, or opportunistic attempts to sell a service that management has already developed. Strategic marketing requires careful and thoughtful assessment of the internal and external environment as well as a challenging analysis of management goals and objectives.

“Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle: a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory.”

– Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”

Resources for Health Tourism, Aging Services, and Healthcare

Retention & Relationships in Long-Term Care: Staffing S.O.S. #2, Solutions to the Workforce Crisis in Long-Term Care

  Before the pandemic, median annual turnover for registered nurses was 102.9% for the years 2017–18; for licensed practical nurses, 79.8%; and for certified nursing assistants, turnover was 98.8%. We know that retention is important because turnover in the sector is just nuts — in many categories it’s over a 100%. If you’re experiencing less […]

Retaining Frontline Staff in Long-Term Care: Staffing SOS #1, Solutions to the Workforce Crisis in Long-Term Care

“Listen…” In our language and in our society this phrase, often as an injunction, is extraordinarily powerful. We say this to young children or adolescents to emphasize an important point. We also often say this when talking to a friend who has sought out our advice on a sensitive matter. As important as the injunction, […]

Fixing the NHS: Challenges and Solutions

The English National Health Service (NHS) is a source of pride for many Britons. However, as the NHS approaches its 75th anniversary in July 2023, there is growing concern about its ability to meet the needs of patients. Hospital waiting lists are at an all-time high, staff shortages are rampant, and funding is inadequate. In […]

Retention: “Sticky relationships”

Nationally, turnover in long term care is at an annual rate of 70 – 90%. Providers are threatened with penalties for failing to meet threshold requirements and are unable to admit patients when they do not have the staff to care for them. Furthermore, unemployment in most US cities remains below 4% so that job […]

Retention: “If she would only just listen…”

“Listen…” In our language and in our society this phrase, often as an injunction, is extraordinarily powerful. We say this to young children or adolescents to emphasize an important point. We also often say this when talking to a friend who has sought out our advice on a sensitive matter. As important as the injunction, […]

Attention on Nursing Homes: Careful what you wish for

The recent attention to the crisis in long term care, and nursing homes by the White House is long overdue, dearly wanted and potentially disastrous; careful what you wish for! Nursing homes and long-term care have been largely ignored or been given passing attention for decades. The “Fact Sheet” issued by the Biden Administration is […]

The Long Crisis in Long-Term Care Staffing

The long-term care sector, reeling from one crisis to another because of the pandemic, is in the midst of the worst staffing crisis ever. We know this empirically, because long-term care centers are unable to admit patients or residents because they are unable to staff up to meet those patient’s needs. More information about this […]

Long Term Care Staffing: Keep the Grinch away

The long term care staffing crisis derives from decades of problems. Just as supply chain disruptions will leave Santa Claus’ Amazon-labeled sack much lighter this year, how can we keep the Grinch away from our long term care staff? The supply chain of frontline caregivers in long-term care is at a very precarious point in […]

Design Dinosaurs; Needed changes in long-term care

The pandemic has ravaged long-term care in the United States, Canada, Australia and the UK. Although the congregate long-term care population represents a fraction of a percent of the overall population, deaths among this group are 30, 40 and even 50% of the national totals. Among the reasons for this is the traditional, legacy design […]

Confronting Our Future Selves; Where will vaccines go?

For 12 months since the novel coronavirus pandemic began, we have been confronting our future selves. The vulnerable elderly in long-term care have suffered disproportionately. Worldwide, approximately half of COVID-19 related deaths have occurred in long-term, congregate care centers. In the United States with the highest infection rates and excess deaths, 42% of deaths have […]

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