	Network Administration

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

NET 3: Planning

A network-wide planning process supports the network's commitment to achieving positive outcomes for the persons and families it serves.

Interpretation: Networks annually conduct a network-wide assessment of the number, geographic distribution, qualifications, and skills of direct service providers needed to serve the populations for which they are responsible, and add capacity or shift resources, as necessary, to meet those needs.

NET 3.01

In developing and maintaining the network, the network’s leaders consider, and annually review as part of their annual planning:

the full range of services within the network’s scope and the network’s capacity to meet its responsibilities and goals;
geographic access to network services, including travel times to locations and proximity to public transportation;
the demographic makeup of network service providers compared to the demographic makeup of service recipients;
access to specialty service providers, including culturally relevant service providers; and
flexible hours of operation that meet the needs and preferences of service recipients.

Interpretation: Specialty service providers can include provider organizations or independent contractors able to meet the linguistic, cultural, ethnic, or other needs of specific groups within the network’s defined service population.

NET 3.02

Every three years, the network management entity conducts a network-wide, long-term, strategic planning process that:

reviews the network’s mission, values, and mandates;
assesses its strengths and weaknesses;
establishes goals and objectives that flow from its mission and mandated responsibilities;
identifies appropriate strategies for meeting identified goals, including consideration of the network’s continued sustainability and possible need to redirect, eliminate, or expand service to respond to changing community demographics and needs;
allocates resources to support capacity development for the delivery system, as needed;
addresses changes in the funding environment;
addresses changes in the regulatory environment; and
includes the input of service recipients and their families.

Interpretation: Depending on the network’s development, this may be the initial network development plan or the most recent strategic plan.

Note: Please enter demographic information on the organization’s governing body and community advisory group on the Community Demographic Profile.

NET 3.03

Once every long-term planning cycle, the network creates a demographic profile of the persons and families it serves and compares it to the demographics of its defined service population.

NET 3.04

The network annually develops a short-term plan that:

evaluates and identifies the type and number of service providers required to accomplish the network's mission, goals, and objectives; and
supports the achievement of the network’s long-term goals and objectives.

QUICK JUMP TO


	PURPOSE: Network services are delivered to a defined population through an integrated network of providers with the goal of ensuring optimal access, quality of care, and consumer satisfaction.

RELATED FILES


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	QUALITY In this context, the extent to which contemporary and generally recognized standards for professional practice are met and exceeded, and desirable service outcomes achieved.


	CONSUMER The individual, family, group, or community that seeks or receives services.


	PLANNING The process of specifying objectives, evaluating the means for their achievement, and exercising deliberate decision making about appropriate courses of action.


	ASSESSMENT An evaluation, which utilizes professional expertise and skills in the collection and analysis of data to understand and describe the nature of service needs of an individual, family, or group. Assessment, as in needs assessment, is also used to determine priorities of program planning and service development for the organization as a whole. See also DIAGNOSIS.


	SERVICE RECIPIENT The individuals, groups, organizations, or communities that use, receive, or benefit from programs and services. Service recipients can include consumers, patients, family members, legal guardians, advocates, public/private organizations, employers, and purchasers. All are regarded as significant stakeholders served in a variety of agencies and practice settings.


	INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR An independently employed individual who contracts with an organization to do a piece of work according to his/her own methods and is subject to an employer's control only as to end product or final result of the work, not as to the means whereby it is to be accomplished.


	SERVICE POPULATION A group or target population that the organization's services are designed to serve in accord with its mission, and which includes the organization's service recipients. An organization's service population may be defined by geographic location, specific problems or needs, religion, ethnicity, culture, or other factors.


	OBJECTIVE A sub-goal stated in operational terms, i.e., a statement that makes clear what expected results are to be measured or assessed.


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	MANAGEMENT See ADMINISTRATION


	GOVERNING BODY A person or persons with the legal authority and responsibility to set policy and oversee the operations of an organization. Generally, the governing body is a group, such as a board of directors or board of trustees. While the exact responsibilities of the governing body depend on the nature and character of the organization, the governing body has minimum fiduciary responsibilities to the organization set by statute, regulation, and case law, and typically assume responsibilities for long term planning, risk management, and evaluation and effectiveness of management.


	ADVISORY GROUP A group of individuals selected by an organization's governing body or management who possess unique skills and/or knowledge and whose role is to make recommendations, provide information, and/or share input from stakeholders. Advisory groups do not have formal governance authority or responsibilities. Advisory groups can be ongoing or ad hoc.