The Strategy That Will Fix Health Care
This article combines two interesting things we have learned about this semester. It talks about healthcare providers working as a team and outcomes measurement to improve overall care. According the this article from the Harvard Business Review, with the future of health care hanging in the balance of "Obama-care" and other health care ideas, it is more important than ever to make sure that hospitals are "achieving the best outcomes at the lowest cost".
Cleveland Clinic has actually been a ground-breaker in taking large steps to make their outcomes as high as possible while still keeping cost to stockholders, insurance, and patients as low as possible. This was done by instituting IPUs. IPUs (Integrated Practice Units) should be made up of anyone who had a hand in the healthcare of the patient including but not limited to doctors, surgeons, dietitians, nurses, and pharmacists. The unit is usually in one place, or is very close to a central location so that the patient does not have to drive hours to get to an appointment.
The backbone to this concept is creating a new system. The article says something along the lines of instead of hiring people to help navigate a messy health care system, simply change the system to be easier on everyone. The new concept also stresses the importance of measuring outcomes. Most doctors have no idea what happens to their patients in the weeks of them leaving the hospital, but this could have serious consequences. Teams need to communicate to make sure that all are aware of any changes in the patients health. Finally, this concept focuses on making sure the right person is doing each job. To quote the article "Virginia Mason Hospital found that it costs $4 per minute for an orthopedic surgeon or other procedural specialist to perform a service, $2 for a general internist, and $1 or less for a nurse practitioner to physical therapist. In light of those cost differences, focusing the time of the most expensive staff members on work that utilizes their full skill set is hugely important".
I think that this is a concept that managers in different departments of hospitals should really be aware of and push for. It can only do them and their facility good to streamline care in a way that is beneficial and more cost efficient for everyone.
-JR
The Strategy That Will Fix Health Care. (2013, October 1). Retrieved October 30, 2014, from http://hbr.org/2013/10/the-strategy-that-will-fix-health-care/.
Cleveland Clinic has actually been a ground-breaker in taking large steps to make their outcomes as high as possible while still keeping cost to stockholders, insurance, and patients as low as possible. This was done by instituting IPUs. IPUs (Integrated Practice Units) should be made up of anyone who had a hand in the healthcare of the patient including but not limited to doctors, surgeons, dietitians, nurses, and pharmacists. The unit is usually in one place, or is very close to a central location so that the patient does not have to drive hours to get to an appointment.
The backbone to this concept is creating a new system. The article says something along the lines of instead of hiring people to help navigate a messy health care system, simply change the system to be easier on everyone. The new concept also stresses the importance of measuring outcomes. Most doctors have no idea what happens to their patients in the weeks of them leaving the hospital, but this could have serious consequences. Teams need to communicate to make sure that all are aware of any changes in the patients health. Finally, this concept focuses on making sure the right person is doing each job. To quote the article "Virginia Mason Hospital found that it costs $4 per minute for an orthopedic surgeon or other procedural specialist to perform a service, $2 for a general internist, and $1 or less for a nurse practitioner to physical therapist. In light of those cost differences, focusing the time of the most expensive staff members on work that utilizes their full skill set is hugely important".
I think that this is a concept that managers in different departments of hospitals should really be aware of and push for. It can only do them and their facility good to streamline care in a way that is beneficial and more cost efficient for everyone.
-JR
The Strategy That Will Fix Health Care. (2013, October 1). Retrieved October 30, 2014, from http://hbr.org/2013/10/the-strategy-that-will-fix-health-care/.
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