Carson Manor Case Study

1. What would be your analysis of the current situation? (4 pts)

The current situation at Carson Manor is that they have continually had problems relating to budgeting and cost control, and the council which funds them now wants to get to the root of the problems. They’ve asked for, based on the recommendations of an internal report, an outside consulting company to offer proposals as to how they would methodically go about their research; the chosen company will be based on the cost of their study and the expected savings that come from their recommendations, as well as previous experiences and references.

1. What are the basic issues? (Please list at least 4 and explain each with one sentence) (6 pts)

The key issue seems to be cost, first and foremost. Carson Manor’s costs were approximately 14% higher than state averages on a per-bed basis, something which clearly needs to be addressed.

Another key issue is the bureaucracy within the structure of the command chain; there is a convoluted hierarchy and this could have a negative impact on the efficiency of operations for Carson Manor as decisions take a long time and there may be a lack of responsibility as there are many groups and boards which make decisions, rather than an individual manager which may be the case at a private institution.

There hasn’t been a form of classification of care requirements for patients, therefore the facility isn’t being as efficient as it could and in fact the report seems to indicate that the level of care currently available isn’t at the level which patients require.

Another issue is the cost of the study to take place and the actual practicalities of the implementation of new strategies to aid problem areas.

1. Which consultant should be recommended for the Carson Manor Study? Please justify your choice (10 pts)

I believe that the Carson Manor Study should be awarded to Clarke-Hamilton. Firstly, I will explain why I wouldn’t have chosen the other two companies. Patientcare, although the cheapest, doesn’t seem to have a methodology which is as strong as Clarke-Hamilton in terms of providing long-lasting recommendations which will remain in place. Also, the references don’t cover the company in glory; two of the references are from companies which couldn’t be found and the third didn’t undertake similar work as the project at hand, which doesn’t bode well for the claims that they can turn the fortunes of Carlson Manor around.

Standardcare is the most expensive of the three, and they have an impressive amount of experience in the industry and operate a large number of nursing home beds in the same state. However, they only provide one reference and that is for a job which is currently being implemented. It states how a number of tasks have been contracted out and it’s uncompleted yet they remain on course to meet their projected savings. It would seem Standardcare is a larger company with many different interests and they haven’t adequately demonstrated with the proposal that they’re worthy of significantly more funding.