| Course | HS450 Strategic Planning and Change Management for Health Care |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 7 |
| Paper type | Seminar reflection |
| Length | About 810 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Health Science |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HS450 Unit 7
High Mission, Low Margin, Rising Cost: A Unit 7 Seminar Reflection on Whether to Close a Warm-Water Therapy Pool
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HS450: Strategic Planning and Change Management for Health Care
Unit 7 Seminar Reflection
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Halloway Therapy Partners, its pool, programs, classmates and every figure are composite; the sources cited are real.
Where I Started
I came to the seminar ready to defend the pool. It serves patients who cannot bear weight on land: people recovering from hip fractures, people with severe arthritis, a few with spinal cord injuries. For them, water is the only place therapy can start. I wrote in my pre-seminar post that closing it "would contradict every word of Halloway's mission," and I meant it. I had just written the mission critique in Unit 4 arguing that Halloway's spending ignored its own words, and the pool seemed like the place to make that argument real.
The Tool
Our instructor introduced the mission-margin matrix described in nonprofit sustainability work (Bell et al., 2010), which places each program on two axes: its contribution to mission on one and its financial return on the other. Programs high on both are stars to grow. Programs high on mission and low on margin are hearts, kept because they matter and supported by others. Programs high on margin and low on mission are money trees, kept for what they fund. Programs low on both are candidates to close.
We placed three Halloway programs. The pool landed high on mission and low on margin, a heart. The sports performance center landed high on margin and moderate on mission, close to a money tree. The pelvic health program landed high on both, a star.
The pool was not the question; the question was whether Halloway could afford its hearts, and that depended on the money trees beside it.
What Changed My View
Two facts moved me, and I want to separate them from the opinions around them.
The first fact was the repair cost set against volume. The pool serves 41 patients in water-based plans of care at any time, about 3,100 visits a year. A 410,000 dollar repair, on top of a 38 dollar loss per visit, means the pool would cost Halloway roughly 120,000 dollars a year in operating losses plus the repair, spread over its remaining life. That is not an argument for closing it, but it is a number the mission has to answer.
The second fact was supplied by a classmate employed in hospital rehabilitation. She pointed out that the community center three miles from the clinic has a warm-water pool used for arthritis exercise classes, idle most mornings. Her question was whether Halloway's mission required Halloway to own a pool, or to make sure its patients could get into one.
That question changed my view more than the numbers. I had treated the mission as requiring the program to continue in its current form. The mission says "restoring movement," not "operating a pool." A referral partnership with the community center, with Halloway therapists providing the aquatic sessions there, could serve the same patients without the repair.
What I Still Believe
I have not concluded that the pool should simply close. The seminar's matrix is useful but blunt: it does not measure what happens to the patients during a transition, and it does not show whether the community center can accommodate therapy sessions at the times patients need them. Bell et al. (2010) present the matrix as a way to make choices visible, not as a formula, and the strategic management literature makes the same point about portfolio tools generally (Ginter et al., 2018).
I also notice something about my Unit 4 critique. I argued that Halloway spent too little on its mission. The pool shows that spending on the mission is not the same as spending on a particular building. If the partnership works, Halloway could serve the same patients and redirect the repair money to the rural clinics, which would honor the mission more fully than the pool does now.
What I Will Do Differently
In the strategic plan, I will present the pool decision as a choice between three options, repair, partner or close, each judged by what happens to the 41 patients, rather than as a defense of the pool. I will also test the community center's capacity before recommending the partnership, and I will ask the two aquatic therapists what they think, since they know better than anyone which patients could manage a move. Bridges and Bridges (2016) warn that people experience a change as a loss before they see any gain, and for these patients and therapists the pool is part of how they understand their care. Any recommendation has to account for that, not just for the arithmetic.
References
Bell, J., Masaoka, J., & Zimmerman, S. (2010). Nonprofit sustainability: Making strategic decisions for financial viability. Jossey-Bass.
Bridges, W., & Bridges, S. (2016). Managing transitions: Making the most of change (4th ed.). Da Capo Lifelong Books.
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health care organizations (8th ed.). Wiley.
HS450 Unit 7 instructions, in plain terms
In the seventh unit, the seminar's debate over one program becomes the subject of a personal paper about your own judgment. Expect your position on arrival, the tool or discussion that challenged it, the facts that moved you, your revised view and the change it makes to your next assignment. Plan on about five hundred words in first person. Give your original position its full strength so the change is credible. Explain the seminar's framework only as far as you used it, and show where each item landed with its figure. Separate turning facts from the opinions around them. Connect the shift to course sources and to your own earlier assignments. End with a concrete change to your later work.
How the HS 450 Unit 7 example is put together
The reflection opens with the writer's defense of the pool and its link to the Unit 4 critique. The tool section explains the mission-margin matrix and the placement of the pool, the sports performance center and pelvic health, and the highlighted sentence reframes the question around money trees and hearts. Two facts follow, the repair cost against volume and the community center pool, with the classmate's question about owning a pool versus access to one. A section on what the writer still believes notes the matrix's limits and a revised reading of the Unit 4 argument. The closing plans three options judged by patient outcomes and adds a note on transition.
Reading the HS450 Unit 7 grading rubric
Seminar reflections in HS450 are commonly marked on honesty of the starting position, clarity of what changed and why, use of the seminar framework, connection to course concepts and writing. Clarity of change often weighs most: graders look for specific facts that moved the writer rather than a general sense of learning. The framework earns credit when its results are shown with figures. Connection to earlier assignments is valued. A concrete plan for later work adds points. First-person clarity and APA citations account for the rest. Reflections that soften the original view or change position without evidence tend to lose points. Admitting what the seminar tool cannot measure is often rewarded as well.
HS450 Unit 7 help: mistakes that cost points
A common weakness is presenting the original view so weakly that changing it means nothing. Another is describing the seminar's tool at length without showing where items landed. Some students blur facts and opinions, so readers cannot tell what actually moved them. Reflections often omit what remains uncertain. Plans for later work are frequently vague. Ignoring the people affected by a decision, here patients and therapists, can cost points. If your seminar debated a different program, perhaps a free clinic or a pediatric service, send your original position and the figures discussed, and the reflection will trace your change with them.
Get an HS450 Unit 7 example written to your instructions
Bring whatever survived of the Unit 7 seminar, even a few lines, plus the reflection prompt and rubric. Built around the service your session debated, the reflection spells out the reasoning that moved its writer and brackets every figure. It comes back within 24-48h, and 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 1: Discussion Board Post
- 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 8: Change Readiness Assessment
- HS450 Unit 9: Stakeholder Communication Plan
- HS450 Unit 10: Strategic Plan
HS450 Unit 7 questions, answered
What is a mission-margin matrix?
A two-axis tool from nonprofit strategy that places each program by its contribution to mission and its financial return. Programs high on both are kept and grown; high mission and low margin are subsidized deliberately; low mission and high margin help fund the rest; low on both are candidates to close. The example uses it because the seminar asked which service to stop.
Can the reflection disagree with the seminar's conclusion?
Yes, and graders often reward it when the disagreement is reasoned. The example's writer changes position partly, not fully, and says what still holds. A reflection that simply adopts the room's view shows less than one that weighs it. What matters is that any disagreement rests on evidence the reader can see.
Does the reflection need sources?
Lightly. The example names the matrix's authors and cites the figures the discussion used. Reflections are personal writing, but in a strategy course a claim about a program's margin or a community alternative should still point to where it came from. Your section's rubric decides whether formal citations are required.
Where can I find a free HS450 Unit 7 sample paper?
The full Unit 7 reflection is posted here, showing how a mission-margin matrix and one question changed a writer's view of a therapy pool.
What is a mission-margin matrix?
A tool that places each program by its contribution to mission and its financial return, helping leaders see which programs to grow, support, keep for revenue or close.