| Course | HS450 Strategic Planning and Change Management for Health Care |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 8 |
| Paper type | Change readiness assessment |
| Length | About 910 words, 6 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 8
Ready in the Suburbs, Not at the Rural Clinics: A Unit 8 Change Readiness Assessment of a Shift to Shared Therapy Caseloads
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HS450: Strategic Planning and Change Management for Health Care
Unit 8 Change Readiness Assessment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Halloway Therapy Partners, its clinicians, survey results and systems are composite; the instrument and sources cited are real.
The Change
Halloway proposes that each physical therapist lead a shared caseload with two physical therapist assistants, rather than the current mix in which most therapists work with one assistant or none. Remote therapeutic monitoring would be added for home exercise programs, so that assistants and therapists can follow patients between visits through an app and bill for the review. The change is intended to stabilize the rural clinics, where assistant vacancies leave therapists carrying full caseloads alone, and to expand capacity without hiring scarce therapists.
Method
All 131 clinicians were invited to complete the TCU Organizational Readiness for Change survey, an instrument developed to assess readiness in treatment organizations across motivation for change, adequacy of resources, staff attributes and organizational climate (Lehman et al., 2002). Ninety-four responded, a 72 percent rate. Scores are reported as means on a scale of 10 to 50 for each domain, with higher scores indicating more readiness. Results are reported by clinic group because individual rural clinics have fewer than ten respondents.
Results by Domain and Clinic Group
Motivation for change, which captures perceived need and pressure for change:
1. Seven suburban clinics, 61 respondents: 36.8.
2. Two urban clinics, 19 respondents: 34.2.
3. Two rural clinics, 14 respondents: 38.9.
Resources, which captures offices, staffing, training and equipment:
1. Suburban: 33.5.
2. Urban: 30.1.
3. Rural: 24.6.
Staff attributes, which captures growth orientation, efficacy, influence and adaptability:
1. Suburban: 37.2.
2. Urban: 35.0.
3. Rural: 36.4.
Organizational climate, which captures clarity of mission, cohesion, autonomy, communication, stress and openness to change:
1. Suburban: 34.9.
2. Urban: 31.8.
3. Rural: 29.3.
The rural clinics want this change most and are least equipped to carry it, a gap that a single system-wide average would have hidden completely.
Reading the Scores
Motivation is highest at the rural clinics, which makes sense: they feel the assistant shortage every day, and the survey's need items scored highest there. Resources are lowest at the rural clinics by a wide margin. The items behind that score name specific shortages: only one treatment room per therapist, no tablets for home monitoring, and one assistant position vacant for seven months. Climate is also lower at the rural clinics, with stress items scoring worst; therapists there described working through lunch to finish documentation.
The urban clinics show lower motivation, and comments explain why: their staffing is already close to the proposed model, so they see less need. Staff attributes are similar everywhere, suggesting that the people are capable of the change if the conditions allow it.
Systems Checklist
Readiness also depends on systems, each with a status and an owner:
1. Scheduling templates for shared caseloads: not built. Owner: operations manager.
2. Documentation co-signature workflow for assistants: exists, needs revision for two assistants per therapist. Owner: clinical informatics.
3. Remote monitoring app selected and contracted: in negotiation. Owner: director of operations.
4. Tablets for patient onboarding at rural clinics: not purchased. Owner: finance.
5. Billing rules for remote monitoring codes configured: not started. Owner: revenue cycle manager.
6. State supervision rules for assistants confirmed: confirmed; ratio allowed. Owner: chief clinical officer.
7. Training curriculum for team leadership: drafted. Owner: education coordinator.
Three of seven systems are not started or not purchased, and two of those three matter most at the rural clinics.
What the Assessment Means
In one widely cited account, an organization is ready when its members are committed to the change and share a collective confidence in their capacity to carry it out (Weiner, 2009). The rural clinics have the belief and lack the means; the suburban clinics have more means and moderate belief. Proceeding everywhere at once would ask the rural clinics to change first under the worst conditions.
What Staff Wrote
Open comments filled in the numbers. Suburban therapists asked how assistants would be supervised when both were treating at once, and whether productivity targets would rise. Rural therapists wrote mostly about time: one said she had not taken a full lunch break in two months, and another asked whether the change would come with the assistant she had been promised. Urban staff wrote that the model sounded like what they already did. These comments matter because they show the rural clinics' low resources score is about specific, fixable gaps rather than resistance.
Recommendation
Phase the change. Begin at two suburban clinics, where resources and climate are adequate, to refine scheduling templates and co-signature workflow. Use those months to fill the rural assistant vacancy, purchase tablets and configure billing. Move to the rural clinics only when the systems checklist shows all items complete for them, and resurvey their staff before starting. The urban clinics can follow the suburban pilot, since their current staffing is already close to the model.
Limits
Survey responses reflect perceptions at one moment, and the rural sample is small. The resources domain may partly reflect frustration with the vacancy rather than with equipment. A follow-up survey after the suburban pilot will show whether readiness changes as people see the model work, which theory predicts it should (Armenakis et al., 1993).
References
Armenakis, A. A., Harris, S. G., & Mossholder, K. W. (1993). Creating readiness for organizational change. Human Relations, 46(6), 681-703. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872679304600601
Lehman, W. E. K., Greener, J. M., & Simpson, D. D. (2002). Assessing organizational readiness for change. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 22(4), 197-209. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0740-5472(02)00233-7
Weiner, B. J. (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change. Implementation Science, 4(1), 67. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-4-67
HS450 Unit 8 instructions, in plain terms
Unit 8 typically asks for an assessment of readiness for a specific change, using survey or interview evidence and a review of systems. Expect a precise description of the change, method, results by domain, interpretation, a systems checklist and a recommendation. Six pages with a results table is common. Define the change in one clear paragraph so every score is read against it. Use a recognized instrument where possible and report response rates. Break results down by site or group, because averages hide the gaps that matter. Trace low scores to the items or comments behind them. Assess systems such as scheduling and billing alongside attitudes. Recommend a sequence that matches readiness, with a plan to reassess.
Inside the HS450 Unit 8 example
The assessment defines the shared caseload change and its purpose. A method section describes the TCU survey and the 72 percent response rate. Results list four domains for suburban, urban and rural groups, and the highlighted sentence names the rural gap a single average would hide. A section interprets the scores with the items and comments behind them. The systems checklist gives seven items with status and owner. A section links the findings to readiness theory. Staff comments follow, then a phased recommendation and limits noting the small rural sample and plans to resurvey. Every low score is traced to named shortages.
Reading the HS450 Unit 8 grading rubric
Readiness assessments are generally graded on clarity of the change, rigor of the evidence, depth of interpretation, attention to systems and the soundness of the recommendation. Interpretation and the recommendation often weigh most: graders reward assessments that break results down to reveal gaps and then sequence the change to match. Evidence earns credit for a recognized instrument and a reported response rate. Systems checklists with owners add points because readiness is not only attitude. Honest limits strengthen the paper. Tables and APA citations complete the grade. Assessments that report one overall score and recommend proceeding everywhere at once tend to lose points. Reporting the response rate and the size of each group, as the sample does, protects the interpretation from overreach.
HS450 Unit 8 help: mistakes that cost points
The most frequent problem in this unit is a single average that hides differences between sites or roles. Another is reporting scores without explaining what drives them. Some students assess attitudes and forget systems such as scheduling, documentation and billing. Recommendations often ignore the gaps the data reveal. Response rates and sample sizes are sometimes missing. Plans to reassess are rare, though readiness changes as people see results. For a different change, perhaps a new documentation system or a merger, describe who would be affected and what data you can gather, and we will structure the assessment around those groups.
Get an HS450 Unit 8 example written to your instructions
Describe the proposed change from Unit 8, which organization it affects and any data on hand, and attach the rubric. Readiness is assessed for people and systems separately, reported by site and turned into a staged recommendation. Delivery is within 24-48h, and there is no charge for the first custom sample. 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 7: Seminar Reflection
- HS450 Unit 9: Stakeholder Communication Plan
- HS450 Unit 10: Strategic Plan
HS450 Unit 8 questions, answered
What is the TCU Organizational Readiness for Change instrument?
A survey developed at Texas Christian University's Institute of Behavioral Research, originally for treatment programs, that measures motivation for change, resources, staff attributes and organizational climate. The example uses its four domains to organize the staff results. If your section assigns a different instrument or model, the same separation of people from systems still applies.
Why assess systems in a readiness paper?
Because readiness is not only attitude. Staff can welcome a new model that the scheduling, documentation or billing systems cannot support, and the change then fails for reasons no survey measured. The example gives systems their own checklist with owners, and the recommendation depends on both sides being ready. In practice, the systems checklist often decides the start date.
Where can I find a free HS450 Unit 8 sample paper?
This page contains the full Unit 8 assessment, reading readiness scores by clinic group and pairing them with a systems checklist.
Why report readiness by clinic group instead of one average?
Because an average can hide the group least able to change. Here the rural clinics were most motivated and least resourced, which shaped the rollout order.
Can a readiness assessment use composite survey data?
For a composite organization, clearly labeled illustrative figures show where results belong. For a real organization, results should come from an actual survey with its response rate reported.