Preface or Foreword (TBD): Why a new edition now (last 2003)
Chapter 1: Introduction to Health Services Planning
· Update definition/conceptualization of “plan”, “planning”
· Insert the changing political environment for planning (along with changing perceptions of the role of planning)
· Update who needs planning and why they need it
Chapter 2: Overview of Health Planning
· Add national-level planning to community-wide and organization-wide planning
· Role of the Affordable Care Act and other legislative developments
· Update current status of health planning
· Update health planning in other countries
Chapter 3: The Social Context for Health Services Planning
· Update/expand the social and cultural context (as well as demographics)
· Insert section on the changing healthcare environment
· Update the transformation of the U.S. healthcare system
· Add box on immigration and health status
Chapter 4: The Health Systems Context for Health Services Planning
· Update/expand the social and cultural context (as well as demographics)
· Insert section on the changing healthcare environment
· Update the transformation of the U.S. healthcare system
· Add box on immigration and health status
New Chapter TBD: Insert chapter on the changing perception of health status, the emergence of the population health movement, and the shift in emphasis from the healthcare system to the community
Chapter 5: Health Services Demand and Utilization
· Insert section on the changing nature of health conditions
· Update factors influencing demand, estimating the demand for health services
· Add box on predictive analytics
Chapter 6: The Planning Process
· Revise in the light of developments in planning methodology
Chapter 7: The Community Assessment Process
· Add history of CHNAs
· Revise in the light of new perceptions of health status (from new chapter above)
· Describe the “new” CHNA approach
Chapter 8: The Planning Audit (consider combining parts of Chapters 6-7)
· Update in the light of emphasis on the social determinants of health
Chapter 9: Strategic Planning (more distinctly separate from Chapters 6-7)
· Update to reflect contemporary thinking with regard to strategic planning
Chapter 10: Marketing Planning
· Incorporate the role of social media
Chapter 11: Business Planning
· Generally strengthen chapter
Chapter 12: Research Methods
· Update overall, strengthening qualitative research
· Insert new methodologies, including data modeling techniques
· Add research methods reflective of the population health emphasis on neglected metrics and non-health types of data
Chapter 13: Information Resources and Data Management
· Greatly expand sources of health data in the light of non-health types of data
· Expand to include non-health data
Chapter 14: The Future of Health Services Planning
· Update and expand
Appendices
· Review all appendices and update as appropriate
Throughout update references and additional resources
Richard K. Thomas, PhD, is vice president of Health and Performance Resources in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, and author, speaker, and consultant. He has been involved in healthcare market research, planning, and business development with hospitals, clinics, health plans, and other healthcare organizations in both the public and private sectors for more than 40 years. Dr. Thomas holds master’s degrees in sociology and geography from the University of Memphis and a PhD in medical sociology from Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He has held faculty appointments at several universities and medical schools and is currently a research affiliate with the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University and affiliate faculty with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Dr. Thomas is active in publishing and has authored or coauthored over 20 books on health-related topics, including works on health services planning, healthcare market research, and the demography of health and health care. He has authored dozens of articles on health care and given numerous presentations, seminars, and workshops on related subjects. He previously served as the editor of Marketing Health Services, the healthcare journal of the American Marketing Association.
The third edition of Health Services Planning represents a necessary revision of the second edition (2003) and reflects the significant changes that have occurred in the social and health environments, the healthcare field, and the planning endeavor itself. The book reviews the history of health planning (with reference to activities in other countries) before describing the process from start to finish in great detail. The philosophy underlying health planning and its perception, past and present, are reviewed with a particular emphasis on the factors that are making health planning more relevant than ever.
The steps in the health services planning process are reviewed and supported by how-to guidance, examples of planning applications, and planning case studies. The various levels and types of planning are described (societal, community, organizational; strategic, business, marketing), and the similarities and differences discussed.
New and updated chapters in this edition cover the planning requirements introduced through the Affordable Care Act, the rethinking of the community health needs assessment process, and the implications of the population health movement for health planning:
The Social and Health Systems Context for Health Services Planning
The Changing Environment for Health Planning
The New Community Assessment Process
From Community Health Needs Assessment to Population Health Assessment
Health Services Planning, 3rd Ed., remains a critical resource for health administration programs, as well as an essential publication for health professionals in both public and private sector healthcare organizations that need to have an understanding of the planning process.