| Course | HCS 499 Health Care Strategy Capstone (HCS/499) |
|---|---|
| Week | 4 |
| Paper type | Goals and objectives section |
| Length | about 1,018 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 4
From Three Priorities to Nine Objectives: Goals, SMART Objectives, Owners and Budgets for a Community Hospice's Three-Year Strategic Plan
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
HCS/499: Health Care Strategy Capstone
Week 4 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The hospice, its baselines and its targets are composites written for a model paper; frameworks come from the sources listed.
The hospice's SWOT analysis in Week 3 produced three strategic priorities: build and keep the workforce, reach patients earlier through community palliative care and a hospital partnership, and make the inpatient house sustainable. This paper turns those priorities into goals and objectives for a three-year plan, with the baselines, targets, owners and budgets the board needs to approve and track them.
Goals and Objectives
A goal states a broad direction the organization will pursue. An objective states a specific, measurable result that shows progress toward the goal. Doran (1981) argued that a management objective should name a specific area, be measurable, have someone assigned to it, be realistic and carry a time limit, the idea behind today's SMART acronym. Ginter et al. (2018) place goals and objectives in the implementation stage of strategic management, where strategy is translated into actions and measures.
Priority 1: Workforce
Goal: Become the employer of choice for hospice nurses and aides in the three counties.
Objective 1.1: Reduce the registered nurse vacancy rate from 18% to 8% by the end of year two. Owner: director of human resources. Cost: $220,000 for a sign-on and referral bonus program and one recruiter. Answers the workforce weakness.
Objective 1.2: Reduce annual aide turnover from 34% to 22% by the end of year three, through a wage adjustment to the regional median, predictable schedules and a career ladder to licensed practical nurse. Owner: director of clinical services. Cost: $310,000 a year.
Objective 1.3: Host at least 16 nursing students a year from the community college as a clinical site by the end of year one, and hire at least four graduates a year from year two. Owner: education coordinator. Cost: $40,000 for a clinical instructor stipend. Answers the pipeline opportunity.
Priority 2: Earlier Referral
Goal: Reach seriously ill people early enough that they and their families receive the full support the hospice offers.
Objective 2.1: Launch a community palliative care program serving 150 patients at any time by the end of year two. Owner: medical director. Cost: $450,000 in year one, partly offset by billing for physician and nurse practitioner visits.
Objective 2.2: Sign a partnership agreement with the regional hospital system by the end of year one, including a shared referral pathway for seriously ill patients at discharge. Owner: chief executive. Cost: staff time.
Objective 2.3: Raise median length of stay from 17 to 30 days by the end of year three. Owner: director of admissions. Cost: $90,000 for one physician liaison. This objective is the outcome the first two are meant to produce, so it tests whether the palliative program and the partnership actually change when patients arrive.
Priority 3: The Inpatient House
Goal: Keep the hospice house open as a sustainable option for families when care at home is not possible.
Objective 3.1: Raise occupancy from 58% to 75% by the end of year two by opening two beds to respite care and accepting general inpatient referrals from competitors' patients under contract. Owner: house manager. Cost: $30,000 for contracting and marketing.
Objective 3.2: Reduce the house's annual operating loss from $600,000 to $250,000 by the end of year three. Owner: chief financial officer.
Objective 3.3: Raise $1.5 million in a three-year endowment campaign dedicated to the house by the end of year three. Owner: development director. Cost: $60,000 a year in campaign expenses.
Checking Feasibility Together
Objectives can compete. The first draft included a goal of opening a second office in the most distant county in year one, which would have required six nurses the hospice does not have. The committee moved it to year three, after workforce objectives take effect. The first-year cost of all objectives, about $1.1 million, exceeds the hospice's operating margin, so the plan draws $400,000 from reserves in year one and relies on the annual fund and palliative billing to cover the rest, with the board's approval.
Risks to the Objectives
Each priority carries a risk the committee named in advance. For workforce, a regional wage war could outpace the hospice's adjustments; the plan responds by emphasizing schedules and career growth, which competitors offer less often, and by reviewing wages every six months. For earlier referral, the hospital system could choose a for-profit partner; the chief executive will open talks in the first quarter and bring the hospice's family survey results and volunteer programs as evidence of value. For the inpatient house, respite demand may be lower than expected; if occupancy has not passed 68% by the end of year one, the board will revisit whether to reduce the house to eight beds. Naming these risks gives the board early warning points rather than surprises.
Communicating the Objectives
Staff will hear about the plan from their own managers at team meetings, with each team shown the one or two objectives it affects most. Volunteers will receive a summary at their spring gathering, and referral partners a short letter describing the palliative program and the hospital partnership.
Monitoring
A one-page dashboard will show each objective's baseline, target and current value, colored by status, at every board meeting. The planning committee will meet quarterly to review progress, investigate lagging objectives and recommend changes. Owners will report in person on any objective more than a quarter behind. Regular checkups of this kind keep a plan from going stale between annual retreats (Keckley, 2015).
How the Objectives Serve the Vision
The Week 2 vision called for early referral of everyone who could benefit and a team that nurses and aides choose. Priority 1 answers the second half directly; priority 2 answers the first half; priority 3 protects a setting the mission names. Every objective, therefore, traces back to the hospice's reason for existing. None of the nine was written simply because it sounded good.
Conclusion
Three priorities became three goals and nine objectives, each with a baseline, target, date, owner and cost, checked for feasibility together and tied to a dashboard. The hospice now has a plan it can carry out, measure and adjust.
References
Doran, G. T. (1981). There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives. Management Review, 70(11), 35-36.
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health care organizations (8th ed.). Wiley.
Keckley, P. (2015). Strategic planning checkup. Trustee, 68(3), 23-24.
What the HCS 499 Week 4 instructions ask
HCS 499 Week 4 generally asks students to create goals for the capstone organization and to write measurable objectives, usually in SMART form, that follow from the SWOT analysis. Prompts may ask students to explain the difference between goals and objectives, justify each goal with evidence from earlier weeks, assign responsibility and time frames, identify resources and describe how progress will be monitored. Some sections ask for a table of goals and objectives with a narrative. Around three pages is common. Strong papers keep the number of goals small, write objectives with baselines and numeric targets, link each objective to the analysis and show that the objectives are feasible together within the organization's resources.
How this HCS 499 Week 4 example is built
The paper starts by restating the three priorities chosen in the SWOT analysis and defining goals and SMART objectives, citing the management article that introduced the SMART idea. Each priority then gets its own section with one broad goal and three objectives. Each objective states a baseline from the hospice's own data, a numeric target, a deadline, an owner by role and an estimated cost, followed by a sentence explaining which SWOT item it answers. A section checks feasibility across the plan, including timing and budget, and trims one objective that would have competed for the same nurses. A monitoring section describes the board dashboard and quarterly reviews. The paper closes by showing how the objectives serve the vision adopted in Week 2.
HCS 499 Week 4 grading rubric: where the points go
Faculty grading the goals section usually focus on the quality of the objectives. Points go to objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound, with baselines and targets, and to a clear chain from the analysis to the goals to the objectives. Owners, resources and monitoring earn credit because they show the plan can be carried out. Feasibility across the whole plan, including budget and staffing, is often a distinguishing criterion. Clear presentation, often with a table, helps. Writing quality and correct citations complete the grade. Papers with many vague goals, or objectives without numbers or deadlines, tend to score well below papers with a few well-built objectives.
HCS 499 Week 4 help: mistakes to avoid
A common mistake in HCS 499 Week 4 is writing goals that are really activities, such as "hold a job fair," or objectives with no number, such as "improve retention." Goals state a direction; objectives state a measurable result by a date. Include the baseline, or no one can tell whether the target is ambitious. Another mistake is creating too many goals; three well-supported priorities are better than eight. Tie each objective to a SWOT item so the grader sees the logic. Assign an owner by role, not "the organization." Estimate cost, even roughly. Finally, check that objectives do not compete for the same scarce resources in the same year, which is a quiet way plans fail.
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- HCS 499 Week 3: SWOT Analysis
- HCS 499 Week 5: Strategic Planning and the Future
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HCS 499 Week 4 questions, answered
What does HCS/499 Week 4 usually ask for?
Many sections ask students to create goals and SMART objectives for the capstone organization, linked to the SWOT analysis, with owners, time frames, resources and monitoring.
Where can I find a free HCS 499 Week 4 sample paper?
The goals and objectives section above, built for a community hospice, is the free Week 4 sample in the capstone thread, with margin notes. Request a first custom section for your organization at no cost.
What is the difference between a goal and an objective?
A goal is a broad statement of what the organization wants to achieve; an objective is a specific, measurable result that shows progress toward the goal by a set date.
What does SMART stand for?
Specific, measurable, achievable (or assignable), relevant (or realistic) and time-bound, a format introduced in a 1981 management article for writing objectives that can be tracked.
How many goals should a strategic plan have?
Most organizations do best with a few, often three to five, so that resources and attention are not spread too thin.
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