| Course | HS450 Strategic Planning and Change Management for Health Care |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 1 |
| Paper type | Discussion board post |
| Length | About 480 words, 2 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 discussion post |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Health Science |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HS450 Unit 1
Unstable Payment Is the Reason to Plan: A Unit 1 Discussion Post on Strategy for an Eleven-Clinic Therapy Group
HS450 · Unit 1 Discussion Board Post
Posted by [Student Name]
Halloway Therapy Partners, its payer mix, the classmates and every figure are composite; the sources cited are real.
Initial Post
Halloway Therapy Partners runs eleven outpatient physical and occupational therapy clinics. Last year its visits came from five payers:
1. Traditional Medicare: 34 percent.
2. Medicare Advantage: 24 percent.
3. Commercial insurance: 28 percent.
4. Workers' compensation: 9 percent.
5. Medicaid: 5 percent.
My claim is that Halloway cannot set its rates, but it can decide how exposed it is to each payer, how many staff hours authorization rules are allowed to consume, and which services it grows. That is what a strategic plan is for.
The strongest objection came from Simone's post earlier this week: when the federal fee schedule changes every year and half of our visits depend on it, a three-year plan is fiction. I take that seriously. Medicare's annual physician fee schedule rule does adjust therapy payment every year, sometimes downward (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], 2024). Any plan that predicted next year's rates would be wrong.
But a plan does not have to predict rates to be useful. It has to say what the organization will do under the range of rates it is likely to face. If Medicare payment falls two percent, does Halloway keep its rural clinics open? If one Medicare Advantage plan doubles its authorization denials, does Halloway renegotiate or limit new patients from that plan? Those choices exist whether or not anyone plans them. Planning only decides whether they are made deliberately or in a hurry.
Instability does not make planning pointless; it makes the cost of improvising higher.
Health care strategy texts describe planning in turbulent environments as a way of building options and monitoring signals, not forecasting a single future (Ginter et al., 2018). For Halloway, that means watching the share of visits lost to authorization delays and the growth of the commercial share, and deciding in advance what each would trigger.
So my question for the group: which outside force in your organization feels most like an excuse not to plan?
Reply to Simone
Simone, I used your objection because it is the best one. I wonder whether it applies to all five payers equally. Workers' compensation fee schedules in our state change rarely, and commercial contracts lock rates for two or three years. Would a plan built around the stable 37 percent, with contingencies for the rest, answer your concern?
Reply to Andre
Andre, you suggested that Halloway simply grow cash-pay services to escape payer risk. I like the direction, but cash-pay is under 2 percent of our visits today. What evidence would show there is demand large enough to change the payer mix within three years?
References
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2024). Calendar year 2025 physician fee schedule final rule (CMS-1807-F). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health care organizations (8th ed.). Wiley.
HS450 Unit 1 instructions, in plain terms
The opening unit of HS450 usually asks you to take a position on the value of strategic planning in health care, often tied to a specific organization. Most prompts look for a stance, support for it, a fair hearing for the other side and something to ask the group. Posts usually run about 300 to 450 words with two replies. Lead with evidence rather than adjectives; a small table of payer shares or volumes gives every later sentence something to point to. State the strongest objection fairly, ideally one a classmate actually raised, and answer it directly. Separate what a plan predicts from what it prepares for. A good reply pins a classmate down with one exact question, such as which part of a payer mix is actually stable.
How this HS450 Unit 1 example is built
The post opens with the group's five-payer table and states its claim: the group cannot set rates but can decide its exposure, its authorization workload and what it grows. The next paragraph presents a classmate's objection at full strength and concedes that the annual Medicare rule changes therapy payment. The answer follows, arguing that a plan prepares choices rather than predicting rates, with examples of decisions that exist either way. The highlighted sentence condenses the argument. A paragraph cites a health care strategy text on planning in turbulent conditions and names two signals to monitor. A question for the group closes the post. Replies ask whether the stable payer share could anchor a plan and what evidence would support cash-pay growth.
Where the points sit in the HS450 Unit 1 rubric
HS450's opening discussion is typically graded for the strength of its argument, use of evidence and sources, engagement with opposing views, replies and writing. The argument earns most of the credit when it states a clear claim and answers a real objection rather than an easy one. Evidence is rewarded when it is specific, such as payer shares, rather than general. Sources count when they support a step in the reasoning. Replies score by pushing a classmate's thinking with a precise question. Many sections also count timely posting. Mechanics and citation form are the last piece, and a post that praises planning in general terms, or ignores the volatility the prompt raises, tends to lose most of its argument points.
Common HS450 Unit 1 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Posts in this unit often fall short by defending planning in the abstract without any organizational detail. Another frequent weakness is an objection stated so weakly that answering it proves nothing. Some students confuse a strategic plan with a budget forecast, which makes the volatility objection seem decisive. Figures sometimes appear without saying whether they are real or composite. Replies that agree add little. Keep employer details general in a public post. Should your own organization be a clinic network, a home health agency or a hospital department instead, tell us its payer mix and the objection you want to answer, and we will write the post around those facts.
Get an HS450 Unit 1 example written to your instructions
Share the board question for Unit 1 with your rubric, and name an organization if your section lets students choose one. The post argues from that organization's payer figures, or bracketed composite ones, meets the strongest objection head-on and includes replies if the board requires them. Expect it within 24-48h; the first custom sample is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More HS450 papers and BS in Health Science samples
- HS450 Unit 2: Environmental Scan
- HS450 Unit 3: SWOT Analysis
- HS450 Unit 4: Mission and Vision Critique
- HS450 Unit 5: Strategic Goal Memo
- HS450 Unit 6: Competitive Position Paper
- HS450 Unit 7: Seminar Reflection
- HS450 Unit 8: Change Readiness Assessment
- HS450 Unit 9: Stakeholder Communication Plan
- HS450 Unit 10: Strategic Plan
HS450 Unit 1 questions, answered
Does the post need real payer figures?
It needs figures that could be real, with their source stated. The example brackets a composite payer mix because the group is invented. If you choose an actual organization, annual reports, community health needs assessments and state data releases often give a usable mix, and a post built on them reads far stronger than one built on adjectives.
Why argue with a classmate's objection in the main post?
Because the prompt usually asks for a case, and a case is judged by how it handles the best counterargument. Quoting a real objection from the board, fairly, shows the writer read the thread. The example borrows one from a composite classmate. Your own board may offer a sharper objection, and answering that one earns more.
How long should the replies be?
Long enough to add something: a question, a source or a counterexample. In the example, each reply runs under a hundred and fifty words and adds one of those. Sections set their own word ranges and reply counts, and those govern. Agreement on its own, with nothing added, seldom meets a participation rubric.
Where can I find a free HS450 Unit 1 sample paper?
You can read the whole Unit 1 post on this page, two replies included, arguing that payment instability is a reason to plan.
Is strategic planning useful when reimbursement changes every year?
Yes, if the plan prepares choices across a range of likely conditions rather than predicting a single future, such as deciding in advance what a payment cut would trigger.