Alzheimer's Inpatient Facility The main goal of this Alzheimer's inpatient facility is to provide a suitable alternative for outside care of patients suffering from the condition. Through this process, the facility will help caregivers and families to avoid the burdens associated with providing care for Alzheimer's patients, especially emotional stress and depression. The proposed project will specifically focus on Robeson County in North Carolina, which has only one fully-equipped Alzheimer's unit that care for patients with this condition as well as dementia. In order for the proposed project to achieve its respective goals and objectives, the development of an effective operation plan and establishing effective management policies and practices is crucial.

Operational Plan

The operation plan for this Alzheimer's Agency will incorporate daily operations, detailed description of the type of location for the facility, legal aspects for operation, handling customers, and personnel. With regards to the daily operations of the business, the facility will be developed in Robeson County which currently has limited facilities i.e. nursing homes and assisted living facilities that provide services to patients suffering from the condition. The facility will be developed in a location where it is easily accessible by customers given the increased need of Alzheimer's services in this county. The business will consist of 10 different units that provide services 24 hours a day to patients and families suffering from the condition. For effectiveness of daily operations, the facility will always have at least one physician or other relevant clinically trained staff to supervise patients' conditions, to deal with any emergencies, and to provide medication management. This facility will also consist of nursing staff that provide supportive services to patients and their families and make rounds. However, the number of nursing staff will be dependent on the level of occupancy in the different units in the facility. The nursing staff will comprise various professionals including nurse administrator, personal care attendants, nurse assistants, cooks, health or well-being director, and maintenance personnel among others.

There nursing staff will use different equipments to provide the services including memory aids, washing and toilet equipments, mobility and transfer aids, eating and drinking equipments, nursing equipment, and assistive technology. In addition to using these equipments, the nursing staff will use processes in assisting Alzheimer's patients and their families to provide services in the facility 24 hours every day.

In relation to location, this Alzheimer's facility will be convenient for transportation, suppliers, and customers. This convenience will be ensured through providing easy walk-in access that eliminates any barriers to finding the facility. Since the facility expects a huge number of patients because of the limited number of available Alzheimer's facilities in the county, it will have adequate parking that can accommodate approximately 100 cars at the same time. Given that the most suitable location for the facility is yet to be identified, some of the factors that will be use to determine suitability of a potential location include space, convenience to the various stakeholders, and proximity to freeway, airports, railroads, and shipping centers. The consideration of proximity to these different facilities is fueled by the need to ensure that suppliers can easily access the facility for effective operations with regards to ensuring necessary resources are available to the nursing staff and patients.

Apart from access of the facility, the other aspects of its location are the physical requirements, which are important towards the overall effectiveness of the facility. The proposed Alzheimer's facility will be nearly 10,000 square feet in size and consist of 10 single-occupancy units as well as areas designated to meet the needs of residents in Robeson County in North Carolina. The proposed facility will be divided into different wings including residential wings and designated segment for addressing residents' needs. Each of the households in residential wing for patients will incorporate sitting places and a kitchen among others in order to create familiar settings for common experiences to these patients. Since the units in the residential wing are single occupancy, they will each have direct access to a private bathroom.

The zoning requirements include distinguishing the residential wings and the other segment as well as demarcating units. The common segments in the facility should be flexible in addition to clear demarcation of circulation paths, outdoor spaces, private hallways, bedroom areas, and common living spaces. The nature of the facility's operations requires 24-hour electricity supply and other utilities like water.

The legal environment for the operation of this Alzheimer's facility includes licensing and bonding requirements by the North Carolina Division of Health Service Regulation. The legal requirements for this facility...

In this case, the establishment of this proposed project would require obtaining a certificate of need, construction approval, a license, and certification before commencement (NC Division of Health Service Regulation, 2014). Based on the State's regulations, licensing applications will be conducted at least 3 months before operation and preparations for licensing surveys will be carried out. Similar to other sectors, the facility's operations will be governed by the Occupational Safety and Health Act while insurance coverage will involve applying for Medicare and Medicaid. However, the facility will also provide its services to customers with their own insurance plans and providers.
The zoning or building requirements for this facility include developing a construction plan with specifications of the facility's space and size and ensuring code and licensure compliant through collaboration with local building officials, fire prevention personnel, and the Construction Section. Moreover, a construction inspection is will be conducted while an application for construction approval will be sent to the relevant authorities. The special regulations covering this industry include federal regulations for Medicare and Medicaid and state regulations for health care ("Regulations and Guidelines for Special Care Units," n.d.).

With regards to personnel, the facility will have approximately 10 employees that range from the nursing staff to the support staff. The nursing staff will provide professional labor whereas the support staff will provide skilled labor towards ensuring effective operations across all organizational segments. The facility will utilize a comprehensive recruitment and selection strategy to identify the right employees. This will involve hiring from universities as well as other segments of the health sector in the state. During the hiring process, the facility's human resource department will look for certain qualities including competence, integrity, abilities, and talent. These qualities will be crucial towards ensuring existing staff are not only qualified but also talented in their respective job roles and responsibilities. As part of enhancing employees' contribution to the overall goals of the facility, the HR department will provide training to foster career development. The training methods will include in-house and external training whose requirements will vary depending on the type and nature of training. The job descriptions of employees, which have already been developed, will also be utilized as the basis of determining a worker's suitability for a particular training. The roles of the nursing staff in the facility are those that involve direct interactions and provision of services to Alzheimer's patients while support staff will handle tasks relating to other roles that enhance the facility's operations. The organization's pay structure is comprehensive depending on the employees' level in the facility as well as his/her input in daily operations.

The facility's operations involve social work and social work ethics incorporates establishing fees based on the client's ability to pay. Based on this concept, the organization will have a comprehensive and strict credit policy. In essence, the organization will accept credit but every credit situation will be handled depending on the client's financial status. This implies that the proposed project will use a patient's history or information as the determining factor on whether to accept requests for credit services. Customers will also be encouraged to honor their obligations and act with integrity in relation to credit services.

Apart from the detailed and strict credit policy, a policy for dealing with slow-paying customers will be established. The first element in this policy is creating agreements between the facility and customers regarding a payment plan for received services. Secondly, customers will receive a letter of reminder at least one week before the due date. If the payment is not cleared immediately, a phone call will be made to remind the client of the due date for payment. Moreover, federal and state regulations will be utilized to handle all payment issues and developing suitable payment policies for customers.

Management and Organization

The management of the facility's daily operations will be handled by an Alzheimer's care manager. A care manager will be responsible for the facility's daily operations because such professionals coordinate different aspects of Alzheimer's care such as drug interventions and other issues beyond every day medication like social engagement and establishing a suitable environment for workers and customers (Wegerer, 2014). An Alzheimer's care manager will be in charge of management because of the distinctive knowledge he/she possess. Unlike other managers, this individual has completed a comprehensive Alzheimer's and dementia education program and other training courses approved by National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners. Moreover, the individual has competence in health care management…