| Course | D549 Exploring Emerging Trends in Healthcare Administration |
|---|---|
| Task | Task 2 |
| Paper type | Trend implementation plan |
| Length | About 1,100 words, 3 pages |
| Format | APA 7 |
| School | Western Governors University (WGU) |
| Program | BS Healthcare Administration |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for D549 Task 2
Forty Patients First: A Phased Implementation Plan for Remote Heart Failure Monitoring at a Composite Rural Hospital and Its Regional Partner
Student Name
Leavitt School of Health, Western Governors University
D549: Exploring Emerging Trends in Healthcare Administration, Task 2
Course Instructor
Month Day, Year
Forty Patients First: A Phased Implementation Plan for Remote Heart Failure Monitoring at a Composite Rural Hospital and Its Regional Partner
Purpose and Goals
The Task 1 analysis recommended remote patient monitoring (RPM) as the emerging trend best suited to Pine Hollow Community Hospital, the small county hospital described there, and its tertiary partner, Northfork Regional Medical Center, 60 miles away. This plan turns that recommendation into action. It sets goals tied to the organizations' objectives, describes strategies in three phases, estimates resources and funding, assigns stakeholder roles, plans for risks and defines how success will be measured.
The program has four goals, each linked to an organizational objective. Goal 1, keeping care local: enroll 40 heart failure patients in the first year and 120 by the end of the second, with at least 80% submitting readings on 16 or more days a month. Goal 2, avoiding readmissions: reduce 30-day heart failure readmissions among enrolled patients from 22% to 15% within 18 months. Goal 3, stabilizing finances: reach break-even on direct program costs by the end of month 24 through monitoring revenue and avoided transfers. Goal 4, strengthening the partnership: agree shared heart failure protocols with Northfork cardiology and share monitoring data with them through the existing telehealth link.
Phase 1: Preparation (Months 1 to 4)
The hospital forms a steering group: the chief operating officer as sponsor, the director of nursing, the rural health clinic's lead physician, the home health manager, the revenue cycle manager and a Northfork cardiologist. The group selects a vendor that offers cellular-connected scales, blood pressure cuffs and pulse oximeters, a monitoring dashboard that interfaces with the hospital's electronic health record and a data security agreement. Working with Northfork cardiology, the clinic's providers write an alert protocol: for example, a weight gain of more than 3 pounds in a day or 5 pounds in a week prompts a nurse call the same day, and the nurse follows a standing order set for diuretic adjustment or a next-day clinic visit. Revenue cycle staff learn the billing requirements for monitoring services, drawing on federal guidance for providers (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.), and the hospital confirms which payers in the county cover them. A half-time RPM nurse is hired, and two home health nurses are trained to set up devices and teach patients.
Phase 2: Pilot (Months 5 to 12)
The pilot enrolls 40 adults with heart failure who live in parts of the county with cell coverage, starting with patients discharged from Pine Hollow or Northfork after a heart failure admission. Home health nurses set up devices in the patient's home within three days of discharge and use teach-back to confirm the patient can take and send readings. The RPM nurse reviews the dashboard each weekday morning and early afternoon; on weekends, a clinic nurse on call receives only high-priority alerts. Patients and families receive a one-page guide in plain language, with pictures, showing what to do each morning and whom to call.
The steering group meets monthly to review data and patient feedback, and adjusts alert thresholds that trigger too often. A framework for understanding why health technologies fail to spread warns that programs are often abandoned when the condition, the technology, the patients, the staff and the organization are not all considered together (Greenhalgh et al., 2017). The monthly review asks one question under each of those headings, so problems surface early.
Phase 3: Expansion (Months 13 to 24)
If the pilot meets its enrollment and engagement targets, the program expands to 120 patients, adds patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using pulse oximetry and symptom questions, and extends coverage to areas without cell service by lending devices that store readings and send them when patients visit town, or through the library's broadband. A second RPM nurse is added when enrollment passes 80. Pine Hollow and Northfork formalize a shared protocol, and Northfork's cardiologists begin receiving monthly summaries for their patients.
Resources and Funding
Estimated first-year costs are illustrative. Staff: a 0.5 full-time equivalent RPM nurse ($48,000 including benefits) and home health setup visits absorbed within existing staffing. Devices and platform: about $55 per patient per month, or roughly $26,400 for 40 patients in the pilot year. Training, interfaces and project management: $20,000. Total first-year cost: about $94,400. Funding would come from three sources: Medicare and other payer reimbursement for monitoring services where billing requirements are met, a state rural health transformation grant for which Pine Hollow is eligible, and savings from fewer emergency transfers, each of which costs the hospital staff time and, often, ambulance expenses it cannot fully recover. The finance team will track actual revenue and cost monthly against these estimates.
Stakeholder Roles
Patients and families take daily readings and call with concerns. The RPM nurse reviews data, calls patients and escalates to providers. Rural health clinic providers adjust treatment and see patients promptly. Home health nurses set up devices and teach. Northfork cardiologists co-design protocols and advise on complex patients. Revenue cycle staff manage enrollment consent, documentation and billing. The county board approves funding and receives quarterly reports. A patient advisor who has lived with heart failure joins the steering group from Phase 1, to keep the program usable for the people it serves.
Risks and Responses
Alert fatigue among nurses: thresholds are reviewed monthly, and alerts are sorted into same-day and next-day priorities. Patient drop-off: nurses call any patient who misses three days of readings, and family members are enrolled as helpers with the patient's permission. Connectivity gaps: cellular devices are used first, with store-and-forward options in Phase 3. Billing denials: revenue cycle staff audit the first three months of claims for documentation gaps. Data security: the vendor contract includes a business associate agreement, encryption and breach notification terms, and access to the dashboard is limited to the care team.
Timeline and Evaluation
The timeline and measures below will be reported to the county board each quarter. The evidence that monitoring reduces lost days and deaths in heart failure comes from a program with a round-the-clock telemedicine center (Koehler et al., 2018); Pine Hollow's program is smaller and less intensive, so its own results must be measured rather than assumed.
| Measure | Baseline | Target | By |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patients enrolled | 0 | 40, then 120 | Month 12, then month 24 |
| Enrolled patients with readings on 16 or more days a month | Not applicable | 80% | Month 12 |
| 30-day heart failure readmission, enrolled patients | 22% | 15% | Month 18 |
| Emergency transfers to Northfork for heart failure | 34 per year | 24 per year | Month 24 |
| Program direct costs covered by revenue and savings | 0% | 100% | Month 24 |
| Patient satisfaction with the program | Not applicable | 85% satisfied or very satisfied | Month 12 |
References
Greenhalgh, T., Wherton, J., Papoutsi, C., Lynch, J., Hughes, G., A'Court, C., Hinder, S., Fahy, N., Procter, R., & Shaw, S. (2017). Beyond adoption: A new framework for theorizing and evaluating nonadoption, abandonment, and challenges to the scale-up, spread, and sustainability of health and care technologies. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(11), Article e367. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.8775
Koehler, F., Koehler, K., Deckwart, O., Prescher, S., Wegscheider, K., Kirwan, B.-A., Winkler, S., Vettorazzi, E., Bruch, L., Oeff, M., Zugck, C., Doerr, G., Naegele, H., Störk, S., Butter, C., Sechtem, U., Angermann, C., Gola, G., Prondzinsky, R., . . . Stangl, K. (2018). Efficacy of telemedical interventional management in patients with heart failure (TIM-HF2): A randomised, controlled, parallel-group, unmasked trial. The Lancet, 392(10152), 1047-1057. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31880-4
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Telehealth and remote patient monitoring. https://telehealth.hhs.gov/providers/best-practice-guides/telehealth-and-remote-patient-monitoring
What the D549 Task 2 instructions ask
The second D549 task asks you to plan the implementation of the trend you analyzed in Task 1. Expect to set goals, describe phases or steps with a timeline, identify resources and funding, assign stakeholder roles, anticipate risks and explain how success will be evaluated. The organization and trend should carry over from the first task without change. Graders want goals with a number and a date attached, phases that build on each other, costs that are realistic and clearly labeled as estimates, and risks paired with responses. A plan that describes the trend again instead of the steps to adopt it will fall short of the planning aspects. Keep the scale modest at first, since a small pilot lets the organization learn before committing larger sums.
How this D549 Task 2 example is built
The plan opens by restating the Task 1 recommendation in two sentences and then lists goals, each with a number, a date and the objective it serves. Three phases follow, each with its own months, actions and a decision point before the next begins. Preparation covers the steering group, vendor selection, protocols and staff training. The pilot enrolls a defined group of patients and tracks enrollment, engagement and readmissions. Expansion depends on the pilot meeting its targets. A resources section prices staff time, devices and software and names funding sources. Stakeholder roles are stated in a sentence each, and a risk table pairs each risk with a response. The final section sets out the timeline and the measures reported to the board.
Where the D549 Task 2 rubric puts the marks
D549 Task 2 aspects are rated competent, approaching competence or not evident. A goals aspect checks for measurable targets linked to the organization's objectives. A steps aspect rewards phases in a logical order with timing. A resources aspect looks for costs, staff and funding. A stakeholders aspect asks what each group will do. A risks aspect wants realistic problems with responses. An evaluation aspect looks for measures and a reporting schedule. Graders notice when the plan includes a decision point before expansion, since it shows that the organization will learn from the pilot rather than scale blindly. Evidence on outcomes and on implementation barriers should be cited where the plan relies on it.
D549 Task 2 help: what sends it back
Implementation plans come back most often when goals cannot be measured. Give each a number and a date. Second, phases run together. Separate preparation, pilot and expansion, and say what must be true before moving on. Third, costs are missing or unrealistic. Price staff time, equipment and software, and label figures as estimates. Fourth, risks are generic. Name the problems this trend creates, such as alert fatigue or patients who stop sending readings, and explain the response. Finally, evaluation is vague. List the measures, who collects them and who receives the report, so a reader can picture the plan running a year from now. Keep the whole plan consistent with Task 1.
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D549 Task 2 questions, answered
How detailed should the D549 budget be?
Enough to show the main costs and how they would be funded. Estimates with stated assumptions are more convincing than exact figures without a source.
Does D549 Task 2 have to use the same trend as Task 1?
Yes. The second task builds directly on the first, so the organization, trend and goals should match. The sample continues the rural hospital and remote monitoring from Task 1.
What phases belong in a D549 implementation plan?
Most plans move from preparation to a pilot to expansion, with a decision point between each. The sample uses three phases over 24 months with targets that must be met before growth.
What risks should D549 Task 2 address?
Risks specific to the trend and organization, such as staff workload, patient drop-off, cost and data security. Each risk in the sample is paired with a response and an owner.
Where can I find a free D549 Task 2 sample paper?
Read the whole phased monitoring plan above, notes and risk table included. Give us your D549 trend and the organization from Task 1, and your first custom plan costs nothing.