| Course | HCS 456 Risk Management (HCS/456) |
|---|---|
| Week | 5 |
| Paper type | Risk management plan |
| Length | about 1,021 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | BS in Health Administration |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for HCS 456 Week 5
One Plan for Homes, Roads and Records: A Written Risk Management Plan for a Nine-County Home Health and Hospice Agency, With Disclosure, Claims and Measures
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
HCS/456: Risk Management
Week 5 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The agency, its structure and its targets are composites written for a model paper; guidance and research come from the sources listed.
Purpose
This plan sets up the risk management program for the agency described in earlier weeks, a nonprofit provider of home health and hospice care across nine counties. Its purpose is to protect patients, families, employees and volunteers from harm, to protect the agency's assets and reputation and to support the agency's mission of safe, compassionate care at home. The plan replaces a set of separate policies with one program approved by the board.
Scope
The plan covers all home health and hospice services, all employees, volunteers and contractors, agency vehicles and personal vehicles used for work, the agency office and hospice inpatient contracts, patient and business information and emergency events. It includes clinical, operational, strategic, financial, human capital, legal and regulatory, technology and hazard risks.
Authority and Structure
The board delegates authority for the program to the chief executive, who appoints a risk manager reporting directly to the chief executive and to the board's quality and compliance committee. The risk manager may review any record, interview any employee and recommend action to any department. A risk and quality committee, including the directors of clinical services, hospice and human resources, the compliance officer, the medical director and two front-line staff members, meets monthly.
Identification and Reporting
Every employee must report incidents, near misses and unsafe conditions using the agency's mobile report form, available on work phones and tablets, within 24 hours or immediately for serious harm. Reports may be anonymous. Reportable events include medication errors and discrepancies, falls, infections, pressure injuries, equipment problems, vehicle crashes, threats or violence, privacy breaches and complaints. The risk manager also reviews claims, survey results, patient satisfaction data and the enterprise risk register.
Analysis and Investigation
Events causing serious harm and serious near misses receive a root cause analysis following a published method (National Patient Safety Foundation, 2015), begun within 72 hours and completed within 45 days, with actions ranked by strength. Recurring processes with high hazard receive a failure mode analysis. Less serious events are reviewed by the risk manager and trended monthly.
Disclosure and Early Resolution
When a patient is harmed by care, the agency will tell the patient or family promptly and honestly what happened, express regret, explain what will be done to prevent recurrence and, where appropriate, offer compensation early. Kachalia et al. (2010) reported that after a large academic health system adopted disclosure with offers of compensation, its rate of new claims fell from 7.03 to 4.52 per 100,000 patient encounters, lawsuits fell from 2.13 to 0.75 and time to resolution shortened, though the design could not prove causation. Telling a family the truth quickly is an ethical duty first and, on the evidence, a sound risk strategy second.
Responsibilities by Role
The chief executive ensures the program has resources and reports to the board. The risk manager maintains the program, the register and the reporting system, leads investigations and manages claims. Directors of clinical services and hospice own clinical risks in their services and carry out corrective actions. The human resources director owns staff safety, workers' compensation and just culture practices. The compliance officer coordinates with the risk manager on regulatory and billing issues. The medical director advises on clinical reviews and disclosure. Every employee reports events and follows safety practices.
Coordination With Quality and Compliance
Risk management, quality improvement and compliance share data but have different purposes. To avoid duplicate work, one reporting system feeds all three, the monthly committee reviews them together and the risk manager, quality director and compliance officer meet weekly to assign each new issue to one lead.
Emergency Events
For winter storms, wildfire smoke, power outages and pandemics, the agency follows its emergency preparedness plan. The risk manager ensures every patient dependent on electricity or oxygen has an individual plan and participates in the annual exercise.
Claims Management
The risk manager receives all notices of claims, preserves records, notifies insurers within policy deadlines, coordinates with defense counsel and maintains a confidential claims file. Settlements above $50,000 require chief executive approval.
Insurance and Risk Financing
The agency maintains professional and general liability, workers' compensation, commercial auto with coverage for employees using personal vehicles, cyber liability and directors and officers coverage. The risk manager and the chief financial officer review coverage with the broker each year against the risk register.
Staff Safety
Following federal guidance on workplace violence for health care and social service workers (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2016), the agency keeps a violence prevention program: schedulers screen each household for known hazards before the first visit, staff on evening visits text a supervisor on arrival and departure, any employee may end a visit that feels unsafe, all field staff learn de-escalation and the record carries an alert for homes where threats have occurred. Driver safety includes winter driving training and a no-phone-while-driving rule.
Education
All staff complete risk and safety training at orientation and annually, including reporting, medication reconciliation, infection prevention, violence prevention, privacy and emergency preparedness. Managers receive training in just culture, which distinguishes human error, at-risk behavior and reckless conduct.
Confidentiality
Investigations and committee proceedings are conducted as quality and peer review activities and are protected to the extent state law allows. Reports are stored in a restricted system.
Measures
The committee will track 10 measures with targets: near-miss reports per month, target 40 or more; share of first visits with full pharmacy reconciliation, 95%; medication-related emergency visits within 30 days, down 30% in a year; injurious falls reported by patients or families, down 20%; staff injuries from violence, down 25%; vehicle crashes per million miles, down 20%; root cause analyses completed on time, 100%; disclosures documented within 72 hours of harm, 100%; claims closed within 12 months, 80%; and staff training completion, 98%.
Annual Review
The risk manager will report on the program to the board each year, and the plan will be reviewed and reapproved annually or after any major change.
Adoption
The board of directors adopted this plan by resolution effective January 1.
References
Kachalia, A., Kaufman, S. R., Boothman, R., Anderson, S., Welch, K., Saint, S., & Rogers, M. A. M. (2010). Liability claims and costs before and after implementation of a medical error disclosure program. Annals of Internal Medicine, 153(4), 213-221. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-153-4-201008170-00002
National Patient Safety Foundation. (2015). RCA2: Improving root cause analyses and actions to prevent harm. https://www.ihi.org/library/tools/rca2-improving-root-cause-analyses-and-actions-prevent-harm
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2016). Guidelines for preventing workplace violence for healthcare and social service workers (OSHA 3148-06R). U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/OSHA3148.pdf
What the HCS 456 Week 5 instructions ask
The final week of HCS 456 commonly asks students to develop a risk management plan for a health care organization, sometimes one used earlier in the course. Prompts typically ask for the plan's purpose and scope, the authority and structure of the risk management program, how risks are identified, reported and analyzed, how incidents are investigated and disclosed, how claims and insurance are managed, staff education, confidentiality and how the program will be evaluated. Some versions ask students to explain how the plan addresses the organization's specific risks. Plans are often four to six pages. Strong plans read like documents an organization could adopt, assign responsibilities by role, reflect the organization's actual risks and include measurable targets.
How this HCS 456 Week 5 example is built
The plan begins with a purpose statement tied to patients, staff and the agency's mission, followed by its scope across home health, hospice, vehicles and information. Authority flows from the board to the risk manager, with a risk and quality committee meeting monthly. The reporting section describes a mobile report for incidents, near misses and unsafe homes. Investigation follows the root cause method used earlier, and a disclosure section commits the agency to telling patients and families about harm promptly and honestly. Claims management, insurance, staff safety, education and confidentiality each receive a section. Ten measures and an annual review close the plan, followed by the board resolution adopting it.
HCS 456 Week 5 grading rubric: where the points go
The risk management plan is usually graded on completeness, fit to the organization and practicality. Instructors look for the standard components: purpose, scope, authority, structure, identification and reporting, investigation, disclosure, claims and insurance, education, confidentiality and evaluation. Points go to plans that address the organization's real risks, assign responsibilities by role and include measurable indicators. Evidence supporting key approaches, such as disclosure programs or violence prevention, strengthens the plan. Consistency with earlier course work, where the prompt builds on it, earns credit. Clear formatting that could serve as an actual policy document and correct APA citations complete the rubric. Generic plans that could belong to any organization, or plans without measures, tend to be marked lower.
HCS 456 Week 5 help: mistakes to avoid
A common problem in HCS 456 Week 5 is a plan made of headings with a sentence under each. Write each section so someone could follow it: who does what, when and how. Another is copying a hospital template for a different setting; adjust scope and risks to your organization. Students often forget disclosure and claims, which are core risk management functions. Include staff safety and information risks alongside patient safety. Tie the program to quality and compliance so efforts do not overlap. Give every measure a baseline and a target. State how confidentiality of investigations is protected under your state's rules. Finally, include how and when the plan itself is reviewed and approved by the board.
Related HCS 456 sample papers
Other HCS 456 week samples
- HCS 456 Week 1: The Risk Manager's Role and Skills
- HCS 456 Week 2: Enterprise Risk Management
- HCS 456 Week 3: Regulations and Risk Factors
- HCS 456 Week 4: Risk Tools and Decision Making
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HCS 456 Week 5 questions, answered
What does HCS/456 Week 5 usually ask for?
Many sections ask students to develop a risk management plan for a health care organization, covering purpose, structure, reporting, investigation, disclosure, claims, insurance, education and evaluation.
Where can I find a free HCS 456 Week 5 sample paper?
Every section of the home health risk management plan appears above for anyone to read without a fee, with notes in the margin explaining why each section exists. Share your organization and we will write the first plan free.
What are the components of a health care risk management plan?
Purpose and scope, authority and structure, risk identification and reporting, analysis and investigation, disclosure, claims and insurance, education, confidentiality and program evaluation.
Does disclosing medical errors increase lawsuits?
Evidence from a large health system found that after it adopted disclosure with offers of compensation, new claims, lawsuits and liability costs fell, though the study could not prove the program caused the decline.
How often should a risk management plan be reviewed?
At least once a year and whenever major changes occur, with approval by the governing body.
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