Discussion post

Business Plans

A business plan is a detailed plan of a proposed program, project, or service that includes information used to assess the financial feasibility of the project. Business Plans are widely used in healthcare for making a case for undertaking a new project. A business plan should begin with identifying the problem. Other important steps in planning a new program and developing a business plan include understanding which organizational goals the program will promote, a market analysis, a financial analysis, a timeline, a feasibility statement, and an executive summary. How the project aligns with the mission and values of the organization is also important. Timelines can easily be tracked using a Gantt chart.

Weekly Discussion Question:

Think of a new service or new project that could be developed in your area of work (or use the idea you developed for the Staffing Plan Project). Describe the following components used in developing a business plan, along with their purpose, needed for the new service that you will develop.

For this discussion, please provide only a general description of each component below.

1. Identification of the problem

2. Define the product

3. Conduct a Market Analysis: Include 4 Ps of marketing

4. Financial plan or analysis: Budget estimate

5. Develop a detailed operations plan or timeline (use of a Gantt Chart)

6. Break-even analysis

7. Cash flow analysis

8. Conclusion

9. Elevator Speech- describe this concept and the benefits of using this approach.

Area of work: Urban hospital treating substance use disorders.

Reference: Financial management for nurse managers and executives ( Finkler & Mose)