Source / Reference:
1) "E-health: applying business process reengineering principles to health care in Canada" by Michael Bliemel, Khaled Hassanein 2007
2) El Sawy's Redesign Principles and Tactics
Subject:
The Role of BPR in Health Care
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Response:
There are 3 types of reengeneering principles according to El Sawy:
There
are many problems in the health care industry such as excessive waiting
times for patients, lack of access to providers and information, high
costs of delivery and medical errors. Heavy reliance on paper based
patient records in medical institutions is one of the major contributor
to these problems. Recent research has found out that doctors using
computer based patient records performed better and more efficient than
doctors who used traditional paper records. Thus, reengeneering is
necessary for health care industry.
Applications of the ten principles in health care industry:
1) Lose Wait - Waiting times for patients and processes.
By
utilizing faster communication technologies such as email, the waiting
time between when lab results are requested and when they are delivered
can be reduced. Moreover, processing time can be reduced by having
facilities closer to where they are requested.
2) Orchestrate - Coordinating between health care providers to balance workloads.
Rather
than taking on patients until capacity is reached in one hospital,
hospitals can share their patients when one of the hospital has extra
beds for patients. In addition, medical staff have more time to service
their patients and improve their services leading to shorter length of
stay for patients.
3) Mass customize - Providing flexibly of interaction options and service offerings to various patients
Various
methods such as telephony, email, video call, or personal appointments
can be offered to patients to access health care professionals when
seeking advice. Customized advice and feedback can be given based on
different patients through online support system.
4) Synchronize - Synchronize the physical and virtual parts of processes
Tracking
the movements of medical supplies, laboratory results, and patients
electronically in order to ensure that everything is where it is needed
when it is needed.
5) Digitize and propagate - Upgrading to 21st century
By
doing so, information can be shared faster and more controls can be put
into place to ensure their accuracy and completeness. Patients can be
prompted to key in their own medical histories and complaints prior to
consultation with a physician. This can reduce the amount of clerical
work performed by professionals.
6) Vitrify - Making processes transparent
Only
relevant data are shared among the system, thus ensuring the privacy
policies. Patients do not need to worry about the exposure of their
personal data. Management, researchers and policy makers can get a big
picture of problems and opportunities within the system.
7) Sensitize - Preventing medical errors
The
system will notify the medical staff when it detected prescription
error such as incorrect dosage, changed of patients' medical conditions,
etc. By having such information, the medical staff can take prompt
actions to deal with such circumstances.
8) Analyze and synthesize - Enabling timely reactions to sudden changes in environment
Predictions of outbreak of influenza can be made and preventions can be taken through vast amount of information gathered through data mining. The analysis of such data can lead to the identification and simulation of further improvement to the health care system in terms of quality of care and cost reductions.
9) Connect, collect, and create -Foundation of knowledge management
New insights and ideas can be gained through the sharing of knowledge about participants. Knowledge repositories can be created. Executive boards can make better judgment in decision making.
10) Personalize - Having closer relationships with patients
Patients can receive more personalized treatment according to their preferences. For example, different patients have different views about the use of antibiotics. Physicians become familiar with the needs of their patients through conversations about their lifestyle and professions.
