| Course | HCS 499 Health Care Strategy Capstone (HCS/499) |
|---|---|
| Week | 1 |
| Paper type | Strategic planning paper |
| Length | about 1,012 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 499 Week 1
Why a Forty-Year-Old Nonprofit Hospice Needs a Strategic Plan Now: The Planning Process, Who Takes Part and What the Plan Must Decide
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
HCS/499: Health Care Strategy Capstone
Week 1 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The hospice, its figures and its planning team are composites written for a model paper; industry figures come from the sources listed.
The community hospice in this capstone was founded 40 years ago by volunteers who wanted people in three rural and small-city counties to die at home with dignity. Today it employs 210 people, serves about 1,300 patients a year, runs a 12-bed inpatient hospice house and depends on 300 volunteers. For most of its history it was the only hospice in its area. In the past three years, four new for-profit hospices have begun serving the same counties, nurse vacancies have reached 18%, and its average length of stay has fallen as patients are referred later. The board has asked for a three-year strategic plan. This paper explains what strategic planning is, how the hospice will do it, who will take part and what the plan must decide.
The Hospice Market
The hospice's pressures reflect national trends. In its 2025 report, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (2025) counted over 1.7 million Medicare beneficiaries in hospice during 2023, a majority of all beneficiaries who died that year, and that hospices themselves multiplied, rising by over a tenth in one year to roughly 6,500 as for-profit entrants arrived. Growth in providers means more competition for referrals, nurses and aides, and it raises questions about quality that a mission-driven nonprofit must answer.
What Strategic Planning Is
Strategic planning is how an organization settles where it wants to be in several years, why that destination matters and how it will get there. Ginter et al. (2018) describe strategic management in health care as including situational analysis, strategy formulation and strategic implementation and control, a cycle rather than a single document. A strategic plan differs from an annual budget, which allocates money for one year, and from operational plans, which organize the work of departments. The strategy should guide both.
A Caution About Planning
Mintzberg (1994) warned that formal planning can become a ritual that produces thick documents without real strategy, and that good strategy often emerges from learning and insight rather than from forecasts and forms. For the hospice, the lesson is to use the planning process to think hard about a few choices, not to fill a template, and to keep the plan open to revision as the market changes.
The Planning Process
The hospice will follow six stages over five months. First, preparing to plan: the board chair and chief executive appoint a planning committee, agree on the time frame and gather data. Second, environmental analysis: internal and external assessment, summarized in a SWOT analysis. Third, direction setting: reviewing and, if needed, revising the mission, vision and values. Fourth, strategy choice: selecting a few strategic priorities from the options the analysis reveals. Fifth, implementation planning: writing goals, measurable objectives, owners, budgets and timelines for each priority. Sixth, monitoring: quarterly reviews of progress and an annual update.
Who Takes Part
The board of directors approves the plan and holds leadership accountable. The chief executive leads the process, supported by a planning committee that includes the medical director, the director of clinical services, two front-line nurses, an aide, the volunteer coordinator, the chief financial officer, a board member and the daughter of a patient the hospice cared for last year. A consultant from the state hospice association facilitates two retreats. Staff, volunteers and referral partners, such as hospital case managers and nursing home administrators, are surveyed or interviewed. Including front-line staff matters because the hospice's biggest risk, workforce shortages, can only be understood and solved with them.
Data the Committee Will Gather
Planning without data turns into a discussion of opinions. Before the first retreat, staff will assemble five years of admissions by referral source, length of stay, live discharge rates, staff turnover and vacancy by role, the financial results of the inpatient house and the hospice's quality scores on the federal hospice survey of family caregivers. The committee will also map competitors by county and interview ten referral partners about why they choose one hospice over another. These data feed the SWOT analysis in Week 3 and give later goals a baseline.
Resources for the Process
The process will cost about $35,000 for facilitation, surveys and a retreat venue, plus staff time. The board treats that as an investment: a single year of lost referrals to competitors would cost far more.
What the Plan Must Decide
The plan must answer five questions. How will the hospice compete for referrals against newer, well-funded entrants without compromising its mission? How will it recruit and keep nurses and aides? Should it expand into palliative care for patients not yet eligible for hospice, which would reach patients earlier? What should happen to the inpatient hospice house, which runs below capacity and loses money? And how will it measure and publicize quality so that families and referral sources can see the difference?
Why Now
Waiting has costs. Late referrals shorten stays, which strains finances and shortchanges patients and families who could benefit from months, not days, of support. Staff shortages compound as tired staff leave. Competitors' marketing reaches physicians every week. A plan gives the board and staff a shared answer to where the hospice is going and a basis for saying no to distractions. It also gives donors, who fund the hospice's charity care and bereavement programs, a clear account of where their gifts will go.
Timeline for the Capstone
Week 2 will review the mission and vision. Week 3 will present the SWOT analysis. Week 4 will set goals and SMART objectives for the chosen priorities. Week 5 will apply the plan to the future of hospice and health care. Each week's work will cite the one before it, so the final plan reads as a single argument.
Conclusion
The hospice faces growing competition, workforce shortages and later referrals in a market that is changing quickly. Strategic planning, done as a disciplined process with broad participation and a focus on a few decisions, gives it a way to respond while staying true to its founders' purpose.
References
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health care organizations (8th ed.). Wiley.
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. (2025). Report to the Congress: Medicare payment policy, Chapter 9: Hospice services. https://www.medpac.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Mar25_Ch9_MedPAC_Report_To_Congress_SEC.pdf
Mintzberg, H. (1994). The fall and rise of strategic planning. Harvard Business Review, 72(1), 107-114.
What the HCS 499 Week 1 instructions ask
The first HCS 499 assignment usually asks students to explain strategic planning in health care organizations and often to choose the organization they will plan for during the capstone. Prompts commonly ask for a definition of strategic planning, its purpose and benefits, the steps of the planning process and the roles of leaders, boards, staff and other stakeholders. Some sections ask students to describe their chosen organization and the forces that make planning necessary. Around two to three pages with scholarly and industry sources is expected. Faculty reward papers that describe the process accurately, apply it to a specific organization and set up the later weeks, since the capstone builds one plan step by step.
How this HCS 499 Week 1 example is built
The sample opens with the hospice and the pressures that make a plan urgent, using federal payment advisory data on hospice growth and use. Strategic planning is then defined and distinguished from annual budgeting and operational planning, with a caution drawn from Mintzberg's critique that planning cannot substitute for strategic thinking. The process follows in six stages, from preparing to plan through environmental analysis, direction setting, strategy choice, implementation planning and monitoring, drawing on a standard health care strategic management text. Participants are named with their roles, including the board, clinicians, volunteers and families. The paper closes with the five decisions the plan must make and a timeline for the remaining weeks of the capstone.
HCS 499 Week 1 grading rubric: where the points go
The rubric for this opening week typically weights an accurate explanation of strategic planning and its process, applied to a specific organization. Faculty look for a clear definition, a distinction from related kinds of planning, stages described in a logical order and a realistic account of who participates. Choosing an organization with real strategic challenges, and supporting those challenges with current data, earns credit. Because the capstone is cumulative, papers that set up the later weeks score better. Writing quality and correct citation style complete the grade. Papers that describe planning generically without an organization, or that treat the plan as a budget, typically lose the most points.
HCS 499 Week 1 help: mistakes to avoid
A common mistake in HCS 499 Week 1 is choosing an organization too large or too vague to plan for, such as health care in general or a national chain. Choose one organization with a clear service area and real pressures. Another mistake is confusing strategic planning with budgeting; a strategic plan decides direction over several years, while a budget allocates money for one. Students also forget who participates, but plans made only by executives often fail in execution. Use a textbook or scholarly source for the process and industry data for the organization's situation. Set up a timeline for the capstone so later weeks connect. Finally, state what the plan must decide, which gives the SWOT and goals weeks a target.
Related HCS 499 sample papers
Other HCS 499 week samples
- HCS 499 Week 2: Mission and Vision
- HCS 499 Week 3: SWOT Analysis
- HCS 499 Week 4: Creating Goals and Objectives
- HCS 499 Week 5: Strategic Planning and the Future
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HCS 499 Week 1 questions, answered
What does HCS/499 Week 1 usually ask for?
Many sections ask students to explain strategic planning in health care organizations, describe the planning process and often choose the organization they will plan for during the capstone.
Where can I find a free HCS 499 Week 1 sample paper?
The hospice strategic planning paper above is the free HCS 499 Week 1 sample and opens a five-week capstone thread. If you have chosen a different organization, a first custom paper is written at no cost.
What is the difference between strategic planning and budgeting?
Strategic planning sets an organization's direction and priorities over several years, while budgeting allocates resources for a single year, ideally in line with the strategy.
How many hospices are there in the United States?
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission reported about 6,500 hospice providers in 2023, after the number grew by more than 10% in one year as for-profit hospices entered the market.
Who should take part in a health care strategic plan?
The board and executives lead, but clinicians, staff, physicians, patients or families and community partners should contribute, since they carry out the plan and know the organization's realities.
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