SWOT on "SWOT Analysis Nonprofit Dental Clinic"

SWOT 12 pages (3423 words) Sources: 12

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Quality health care is an essential requirement of any human being. In current times, where the fast paced lives are getting faster each day, work stresses are increasing, streets are being storm with junk foods and fast foods, and pollution and congestion is increasing, human lives are getting more and more prone to physical and mental diseases. As a result, the importance of health care systems and health care facilities increases.

Dental care is an important branch of health care services. This is one health care service that has a very high demand on routine basis. Moreover, dental care is also a very expensive facility that many people cannot afford. The current economic crunch has made it much more difficult for people to go for routine dental checkups and use dental care facility. This calls for a need of nonprofit organization, preferably state funded, that can provide dental care facilities at affordable prices (Kovener & Knickman, 2005). The problems pertaining to dental care are much more common among children, mainly due to their lack of awareness about dental care and unhealthy eating practices.

Non-profit organizations are those that operate with charitable objectives and their aim is not maximization of profits unlike other organizations their main aim is not to make profits but to increase the welfare of society. The share holders or trustees of Nonprofit Organizations do not expect financial returns from the organization. Almost all of the nonprofit organizations are exempt from income tax and most are also exempted from sales and state and local property taxes. The nonprofit sector is also called the third sector, independent sector, voluntary sector, tax exempt sector, social sector or the charitable sector. Approximately 1.2 million Organizations are registered with the IRS and a large number of small nonprofit organizations remain unregistered because they have revenue of less than $5,000 (Wall, 1996).

The existence of nonprofit organizations is of great importance. Nonprofit organizations react to a community needs not being satisfied by private organizations that operate with a profit motive. Nonprofit organizations are more efficient than government and can address the issues urgently. Nonprofit organizations play a major role when a country is hit by a natural disaster; this is especially the case in developing nations. Nonprofit organizations provide a platform for individuals to change the community they live in and make it a better place. Nonprofit organizations identify major societal issues and give voice to under-represented people and points-of-view and integrate these perspectives into social life. Nonprofit organizations develop a sense of community among citizens by providing a means to engage in social welfare.

Organization overview

Eastside Dental clinic is a non-profit organization funded by the state of Virginia. The clinic specializes in treating children. Medicare and Medicaid are the only insurances accepted at the Eastside Dental clinic (Grogan & Gusmano, 1999). The Clinic is currently unable to breakeven due to understaffing and competition faced by Kool smiles, which has captured the market of Eastside Dental clinic as it also serves children and accepts Medicaid as one of their insurances. The staff at the clinic is not motivated and refuses to do any extra work. The clinic treats 8-10 patients a day on average from Monday-Thursday and 4 patients on Friday. The Eastside dental clinic is located inside a city public healthcare clinic towards the back of the building. The problem of understaffing in the clinic is escalated due to disconnect between the front desk and the dental office.

SWOT Analysis

The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by the Eastside clinic given the current circumstances are discussed in the following sections.

Strengths

The major strength of the Eastside dental clinic is that it is funded by the state of Virginia; therefore the dental clinic can charge lower prices to attract patients.

Unlike privately run nonprofit organizations, government will have a larger budget to fund charitable provision of dental care services, which will give it an edge over its competitors.

Those patients who cannot afford to get themselves insured for health benefits can get treatment from the Eastside dental clinic for free based on a sliding scale (Vissers & Beech, 2005). These patients will not be provided treatment by other dental clinic such as Kool smith; this gives Eastside dental clinic a competitive edge.

The variable costs of the Eastside dental clinic because the labor force only consists of a doctor, a hygienist and a dental assistant.

Weaknesses

The Eastside Dental clinic is under staffed. There is no receptionist to take appointments and do billing due to which Dr. Mulligan and her staff have to do these tasks between the patients as a result they can treat very few patients because many of the appointment calls are missed and on Friday Dr. Mulligan can treat only 4 patients on average as he have to do the billing leading to a fall in revenue for the clinic. Furthermore, due to understaffing the staff at the dental clinic is too busy and has no time to promote their clinic and educate people about the importance of dental care which could result in a significant increase in the number of patients receiving the Eastside dental clinic. These tasks can also be done through using dental mobile vans but due to under staffing these vans are of no use and are depreciating leading to under utilization of resources.

Eastside Dental clinic only accepts Medicaid and Medicare insurances as a result those patients who have any other type of insurances will not go to Eastside dental clinic and might opt for kool smith or any other clinic in the town.

The front desk is responsible for helping the dental office; however, there is lack of communication between the front desk and the dental office. The front desk is not cooperative and refuses to do any extra work and does not participate in helping the dental office as a result the clinic is able to treat only few patients.

The Eastside Dental clinic does not treat adults regularly as a result its market is limited. The main focus of the clinic remains on providing dental care services to children only. Adults would prefer a dental clinic which is ready to see them at anytime they want and as a result might not go to Eastside even occasionally. They would also prefer to get their children treatment by the dentist that they themselves go to.

Opportunities

The Eastside Dental clinic have numerous opportunities if it employees more people. If there is a receptionist to do billing and take appointments Dr. Mulligan can treat more patients as he no more have to do these tasks between the patients (Pynes, 2008). By employing a hygienist Dr. Mulligan will be able to go to schools and provide dental education and more efficient use will be made of dental mobile vans. Employment of more people will make communication between the dental office and the front desk easier leading to more efficiency. The staff will have enough time to promote their clinic and attract patients leading to a rise in revenue and helping the clinic to achieve breakeven. With more people boredom between the workers will reduce as they'll have people to meet and talk at the working place this could lead to motivation leading to greater efficiency. The motivated staff of front desk can than promote the clinic and create awareness about the free dental healthcare provided at the clinic by informing current patients.

Eastside dental clinic should also accept other insurances other than Medicare and Medicaid. This would help them to attract patients who have insurances other than Medicare and Medicaid leading to a rise in revenue. On the other hand Eastside Dental clinic can present a proposal to the Medicare and Medicaid insurances that their clients can only get treatment at Eastside dental clinic. This would give it a competitive edge over Kool smith and the number of patients coming to Eastside Dental clinic would increase.

The clinic can treat adults regularly rather than occasionally this would increase the number of patients and adults with insurances will contribute to the clinics revenue. Furthermore, this can help to promote the clinic by being friendly to the patients this would make many of the adults to bring their children to Eastside for getting treatment.

The clinic can spread the information about the importance of dental healthcare among HIV patients. HIV patients should visit dental clinic frequently because it is necessary for them to have a healthy mouth and healthy teeth in order to eat properly and get the required nutrition's to remain healthy otherwise HIV progression would become inevitable. Health issues in the mouth is one of the signs of HIV infection and can is a predictor of HIV progression probability. Furthermore, poor oral hygiene is a breeding ground for fungal, bacterial and viral infections which can affect our entire body. If mouth ulcers, gum disease and tooth decay are left untreated than it can lead to serious illnesses elsewhere in body. Poor… READ MORE

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