Evaluating the Physician Health Care Services Center is quite demanding compared to assessing the performance of a traditional manufacturing company or any other form of enterprise. The evaluation procedure and productivity assessment are difficult in the healthcare center since institutions concerned with human health restoration are on the right track. Conversely, there is a challenging and involving evaluation procedure with regard to productivity; it is paramount to have a solid basis on which organizational decisions should be based. With the intention of determining the productivity of physician care services, I will employ two of the key metrics: overall service and productivity of the organization and output per labour.
Six Sigma and Lean Opportunities in Healthcare
The opportunity for Six Sigma and Lean Management principles has gradually expanded, and these methodologies and implementations can be applied in healthcare reform for process improvement. The Six Sigma principle takes the company to an improved level through the application of statistical techniques and tools (Balushi, Sohal, Singh, Hajri, Farsi and Abri, 2014). The innovations in healthcare reform have become data-driven and systematic designs for the Six Sigma method in healthcare settings. Another opportunity is that the value-stream map gives a holistic picture of the organizational value chain. The lean management element is to seek every chance to decrease effort and variability in organizational issues such as complexity reduction, visual management and the method that identifies the workplace, scrub, sort, sustain, standardize and strengthen, line balancing, cellular production and so on (De Koeijer, Paauwe and Huijsman, 2014).
Process Flow Cost Reduction and Patient Care
According to the metrics in week 5, it is identified that the lead does not analyze the indicators of the procedure to establish where the improvement points are but focuses on the ineffectiveness of the procedure flow. This is where the main opportunities for improvement are. According to the study of Mason, Nicolay and Darzi (2015), the process and concept of lean management in healthcare reform lead to time-related cost reduction and have to do with internal quality. This is because the customer is always interested in the end product. On the contrary, the patient can take part in the whole procedure. With the intention of dealing with cost-cutting pressures, reductions in the cost of maintenance, administrative or nursing staff are unlikely and can impact the care process entirely. Cost reduction is one of the best opportunities in healthcare reform without jeopardizing patient care, while looking for alternative solutions or methodologies that are not even related to the healthcare industry (Trzeciak, Mercincavage, Angelini, Cogliano, Damuth, Roberts and Mazzarelli, 2018).
Waste Elimination and Cycle Improvement
In the view of Yaduvanshi and Sharma (2017), lean management and Six Sigma are procedures that provide enhancement approaches in the industry. These approaches have saved organizations billions of dollars while enhancing or improving their service, back-office transactional procedures, manufacturing, distribution and service. By using lean management in healthcare reform, lean focuses on waste elimination and overall cycle improvement within the procedure.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that there are complexities posed by the multi-payer system, which also gives the organization many chances to tighten up the metrics. On the other hand, it is examined that practice empowered the staff and involved the workflow with the intention of examining chances to reduce delays in the remaining ten days by changing the procedure, automating by other means and eliminating redundancies. The discussion above identified that healthcare managers should look into lean management with the intention of making a difference in the companies and knowing exactly what they want to accomplish.
Five Measurable Stretch Goals
For any company, setting the aims and goals of the organization enhances adherence, gives incentives and helps measure progress. It is quite noticeable that the leaders will need to form a team in healthcare with the intention of implementing the changes in the organization. Conversely, the next step is to come up with the aims for the leaders to keep the team on track. The goals must be specific, achievable, measurable, associated and time-bound. In the meetings, the members must regularly discuss the goals and aims to estimate progress, ensure the availability of resources, maintain responsibility, and make adjustments as needed. Physician HealthCare Service has a lot of problems that need proper resolution. With the intention of eradicating such concerns, the leaders of Physician HealthCare Services need to form some goals. On the other hand, while lean and Six Sigma have been employed generally in the healthcare industry, there is an enormous opportunity to use these two methodologies so that the organization can streamline the procedures and improve their quality concurrently (Zhu, Johnson and Sarkis, 2018).
A few of the possible aims are reducing operational expenses by 30% in the next three months, developing the quality improvement procedure, developing the services to add walk-in services in the pharmacy department, delegating management duties and tasks efficiently by the end of the year, reducing the workload of the president and enhancing effectiveness. This might also enhance the patient volume this year by at least 10% and develop or expand care services during weekends. Zhu et al. (2018) determined that the opportunity quantity for the defect is known as the Six Sigma opportunity, where customer expectations are from outside and are known as a Six Sigma defect. The goals also include enhancing employee satisfaction to 99% by employing management techniques or proper scheduling by the end of the next six or seven months (Trzeciak et al., 2018).
On the other hand, the goals listed above are all expanded and noted from Dr. Tobias’s concerns in the board meetings. He has been thinking of selling the organization due to his possible loss in the medical market in the future. His concerns involve enhancing the costs associated with operations and equipment. Thus, one goal is to reduce operational expenses by employing improvement techniques associated with Six Sigma and Lean Management principles. At the same time, he is concerned about other practices, such as employing walk-in services to go along with pharmacies. In this case, the performance improvement project’s aim would be to implement walk-in services to remain competitive within the PCS pharmacy department. It is noted that Dr. Tobias is currently taking responsibility for the roles of president and medical director of Physician Healthcare Services. He works as a Certified Medical Review Officer for employees whenever drug testing is essential. Hence, it is quite difficult for Dr. Tobias to focus on several concerns at once and in detail.
References
Al-Balushi, S., Sohal, A. S., Singh, P. J., Al Hajri, A., Al Farsi, Y. M., & Al Abri, R. (2014). Readiness factors for lean implementation in healthcare settings–a literature review. Journal of health organization and management, 28(2), 135-153.
De Koeijer, R. J., Paauwe, J., & Huijsman, R. (2014). Toward a conceptual framework for exploring multilevel relationships between Lean Management and Six Sigma, enabling HRM, strategic climate and outcomes in healthcare. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(21), 2911-2925.
Mason, S. E., Nicolay, C. R., & Darzi, A. (2015). The use of Lean and Six Sigma methodologies in surgery: A systematic review. The Surgeon, 13(2), 91-100.
Trzeciak, S., Mercincavage, M., Angelini, C., Cogliano, W., Damuth, E., Roberts, B. W., … & Mazzarelli, A. J. (2018). Lean Six Sigma to Reduce Intensive Care Unit Length of Stay and Costs in Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation. Journal for Healthcare Quality, 40(1), 36-43.
Yaduvanshi, D., & Sharma, A. (2017). Lean Six Sigma in Health Operations: Challenges and Opportunities—‘Nirvana for Operational Efficiency in Hospitals in a Resource Limited Settings’. Journal of Health Management, 19(2), 203-213.
Zhu, Q., Johnson, S., & Sarkis, J. (2018, January). Lean Six Sigma and environmental sustainability: a hospital perspective. In Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal (pp. 1-17). Taylor & Francis.
Academic Master Education Team is a group of academic editors and subject specialists responsible for producing structured, research-backed essays across multiple disciplines. Each article is developed following Academic Master’s Editorial Policy and supported by credible academic references. The team ensures clarity, citation accuracy, and adherence to ethical academic writing standards
Content reviewed under Academic Master Editorial Policy.
