Health care is an essential part of life – it is our right to have access to healthcare whenever we need it. When choosing the institutions that can provide your healthcare needs, you need to make sure that you will receive good quality services. It is in your best interest to mission and vision of healthcare providers as shown on their professional medical websites.
Vision and Mission Statements: How Do They Differ?
Vision and mission statements are commonly used by companies, institutions, and organizations. Although similar in nature, they serve different purposes.
For starters, vision and mission statements do not hold the purpose of telling the background of an institution. There are other avenues to tell the stories of their histories and bios. Usually, these are also longer while vision and mission statements only make up a few sentences.
A vision statement encapsulates the institution’s hope for the future. It is an inspiring, futuristic thought that is simple and straightforward. You will notice that vision statements are generally concise and made up by one or two sentences only. This is the big picture for where the company – in this case, the healthcare provider – is heading, such as how they hope people will view their organization a few years’ from now.
For this reason, vision statements often start with the following:
“To be known as…”
“We hope to…”
“We envision…”
Meanwhile, mission statements define what a company’s purpose is at present. These will start with words such as:
“We are…”
“We serve…”
“Our pose is to…”
The healthcare industry can be well-known for using jargon in its statements because after all, they are marketing their services to anyone who might need it. In brochures, medical websites, and even in person at hospitals and clinics, they use a lot of enticing words. Although specialized language is appropriate in a marketing sense, these should not be employed in the mission and vision statements. There is no room for buzzwords and jargon here because those interested in getting healthcare are not looking for flowery words. They want the truth about what kind of quality services they will receive and invest their money in.
What are Examples of Some Mission and Vision Statements in Healthcare?
To clarify things, here are some examples of impressive mission and vision statements from Mayo Clinic.
Mission:
“To inspire hope, and contribute to health and well-being by providing the best care to every patient through integrated clinical practice, education and research.”
Vision:
“Mayo Clinic will provide an unparalleled experience as the most trusted partner for health care.”
Although their mission statement is short, it does the job of being concise by describing what Mayo Clinic provides today – integrated clinical practice, education, and research.
As for their vision, they are clearly stating that they are aspiring to be the most trusted healthcare partner. This is something they can aspire for throughout the years and this vision serves the purpose of inspiring their staff to do their best. That’s a good vision statement.
Below are other examples of other vision statements from other health-oriented organizations. Observe how concise they are:
“Our vision is to be the unmatched leader in improving quality and reducing the cost of health care for patients in the communities we serve.” – Sound Physicians
“A world where everyone has a decent place to live.” – Habitat for Humanity
“That people everywhere will share the power of a wish.” – Make-A-Wish Foundation
From the outside looking in, this is impressive because clients want a healthcare provider that aims to be the best in all aspects – professional services, facilities, technology, etc.
Vision and mission statements will be read by potential employees, investors, patients, and even lawyers and insurance companies, to name a few. All of these are different audiences with varying backgrounds. That’s why it is important to ensure these statements are clear, unique, and straight to the point.
Uniqueness is significant because institutions will want to stand out from their competitors in the market. In the context of healthcare, there are thousands upon thousands of medical clinics, providers, and physicians out there. Vision and mission statements should be carefully worded that potential patients and clients will be drawn to their institution and choose them among the rest.
What About ‘Core Value Principles’?
Aside from an institution’s vision and mission, they can publish their core values or value statements. These values serve as a guide for how they go about their work.
Core values are likewise helpful to gauge the work ethic and governing attitude of a certain institution towards their clientele, patients, or potential investors.
To give an example, here are the Key Values of Grace Health.
Our Relationship with the People We Serve
Our Approach to Health Care
Our Work Environment
Under each value they have listed several bullet points you can read here. Other organizations also published their values on their websites and company brochures. Value statements are helpful to gauge the general outlook of an institution towards basically anyone, so these are also worth looking into.
The Bottom Line
An institution’s mission statement serves as a guidebook – representing goals and aspirations that also serve as standards for their performance. We can expect that the mission statement sums up a company’s reason for being, including their goals and principles. This tells the public and customers what to expect when dealing with them, hence the significance of reading through a healthcare provider’s mission before availing their services.
Over the years, companies and institutions go through many changes. Their mission helps them stay grounded to their core values and remember the basic principles on which (and why) they were founded.
Even small medical clinics will hold onto their mission. It aligns all departments and staff on how to act in their day-to-day. This alignment is critical to ensure that all members of the clinic (or hospital) are effectively working together to achieve a common goal.
The mission, vision, and values provide the focal point for the creation of business strategies and help to ensure that these strategies are aligned. Despite being rooted in providing medical services, healthcare institutions also employ business models in their day-to-day operations.
