Operations Management in Health Care
Operations management is the organizing and controlling of the fundamental business activity of providing goods and services to customers (Encarta, 2005). In the healthcare industry, operations management generally focuses on providing a service of healthcare to patients. An organization has three basic functional areas, and theses are: finance, marketing, and operations (Operations Management, 2004, p.4). Since operations is one of the three basic functions of an organization it holds a strong significance in the healthcare industry. The contents of this paper will explain what operations management means to the writer, and why is operations management important to a healthcare organization.
What is Operations Management?
The specific breakdown of operations management came from reading chapter 1 of the online textbook titled Operations Management. Further explained in the book, operations services are products of the transformations of inputs to outputs. Manufacturing products differs from providing services in seven factors: degree of customer contact, uniformity of input, labor content of jobs, uniformity of output, measurement of productivity, production and delivery, quality assurance, and amount of inventory (Operations Management, 2004, p.6). Operations management includes many processes, all of them should be considered thoroughly by the manager. These processes include: forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, managing inventory, assuring quality, and motivating and training employees (Operations Management, 2004, p.8). Operations management also includes different models, quantitative approach, the analysis of trade-offs, establishing priorities, ethics, the study of the ...
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...eing and livelihood should never be compromised.
Conclusion
Operations management is an important aspect of the health care industry. Without operations managers, no organization would run smoothly and successfully. Studying pre-existing models of operations management may be a smart approach to truly understand this field. But since technology is advancing by the minute, new concepts, and tools should be adapted for operations management. The book titled Operations Management strategically explains the different concepts, divisions, and approaches of operations management.
References
Encarta (2005) Definitions: Operations Management. Retrieved September 15, 2005,
from http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=561533832 .
Operations Management (2004). Introduction to Operations Management. The McGraw
Hill Companies.
Operations management is essential for the survival and success of any organization. According to Heizer & Render (2011), operations management (OM) is the set of activities that creates value in the form of goods and services by transforming inputs into outputs. Operations managers today contend with competition, globalization, inflation, consumer demand, and consistent change in technology. Managers must focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of processes such as cost, dependability, distribution, flexibility, and speed. The intent of this paper is to discuss the processes and operations management of the Kroger Company.
It is vital that the operating budget ties in with long-term strategies by planning, setting objects with goals, and forecasting the future. According to Mr. Wright, Robertwood Johnson University Hospital adopted the GE Model of “operation excellence” with long-term strategies with their operating budget. With the ” operations excellence” strategy, the organization has over the years transformed the operating budget by accurately tracking and constantly improving their revenue cycle yearly by setting payment practices to generate revenue to achieve specific financial objectives of greater demand with the maximum revenue margins along with eliminating waste and streamlining the budget by cutting expenses and prioritizing programs
Buchbinder, S.B., Shanks. N. (2007). Introduction to healthcare management. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers Inc.
The nurse executive is responsible for budget planning for the division. Areas of focus include strategies to improve productivity and feasible tactics to reduce agency staff and overtime (OT) for the division. Identified in this paper is the importance of operational and financial performance indicators for the organizations internal goals. Focus on benchmarking through data analysis is vital. In addition, setting realistic goals that are compulsory to promote cost savings, while maintaining patient safety as a priority is important in creating an improved patient experience. In planning for modifications to obtain a favorable budget, adjusting full time equivalents (FTEs) to fluctuating volumes is important. To improve the productivity plan effectively are evaluation and management of scheduling, staffing, and skill mix are necessary to obtain favorable productivity.
With these types of organizations they have different methods of payments and reimbursements. They have guidelines through the government that they will have to abide by. The government sponsored payers are Medicaid and Medicare. The majority of patients that are treated are on Medicare or Medicaid. With patients not insured each type of organization handles reimbursement differently. For- Profit hospitals it is bad debt, which is when charges of patient are written off. With not –for –profit organizations it is considered charity care. This type of care has to be documented and reported on tax status.
By the late 1980’s general management in the NHS was in full force, and expectations of ‘management discipline’ were high, however there were a series of recurrent crisis. These crises were particularly evident in the hospital services and were caused by a combination of scarcity of compatible resources and an infinite demand for health care. Through a fundamental view of operations in 1989, two reviews were drawn up by the department of health, ‘working for patients’ and ‘caring for people’ (DoH, 1989a, 1989b), and these formed the basis of the NHS and Community Care Act 1990.
...t is also difficult to maintain overall operations. Operations are effected simply because of health care delivering patient care which significantly declines when the overall cost continues to raise.
...ng stressed. Option 1 may lead to excessive pressure on doctors, and hence poor performance in service delivery. In medical field, it is necessary to allow the doctors to perform accurately on a consistent basis.
In today's health care environment many factors contribute to quality care. As a medical practice manager it is important to provide the best medical service for patients in addition to excellent levels of service. Appointment scheduling is a very important aspect of a smooth running medical practice. Appointment cancellation, no shows, and long waiting time by patients have a negative impact on the efficient running of the practice not only in lost revenue but the practices professional reputation as well (Kruse 2010).
Due to WellStar being a multi facility health system, its organizational design is constantly being reviewed for simpler and more efficient processes. WellStar’s two smallest hospitals, WellStar Paulding and WellStar Douglas, previously under went reconstruction with regards to their hierarchical structure in Patient Access Services (PAS). WellStar Paulding, the smallest facility of the five hospitals, renovated their managerial chain of command in PAS. WellStar Paulding’s patient volume is less than half in comparison to the 4 additional hospitals. As a result, their staff is smaller and only requires minimal supervision. In the past WellStar Administrators requested supervisors for every department, a manager of the entire department, and a director that managed PAS’ management directly and PAS staff indirectly. Recent cuts ...
...mplications that allow for opportunities of change. One of the presumptions is for training and staffing (Shi & Singh, 2012). With the utilization of health care improvements, the staff will need additional instructions on the performance of equipment and how to efficiently achieve the desired results. Managers or supervisors recognize the need for supplemental staffing and training to optimize patient satisfaction and quality of care. The health care administrator must also focus on changes in insurance policies and rules governing the provision of medical assistance (Shi & Singh, 2012).
The current dynamic healthcare environment is undergoing a tough competition due to various factors such as the cost, quality care, production, efficiency, and safety care. So, the healthcare system requires a significant change to implement strategic management in all its sectors. Additionally, it is important to formulate appropriate tools to execute these strategic plans effectively, and one such great tool is strategic alternatives. Since, one-size-fits all analogy cannot be applied to every single healthcare organization, so it is very important to closely evaluate the healthcare environment, and then select a suitable alternative strategy. In addition, it is unlikely that a single strategy will suffice for an organization so for the success
Schonberger, R.J. and E.M. Knod Jr. Operations Management: Continuous Improvement. Richard D. Irwin, 1994, p. 44. 16. Selto, F.H. and D.W. Jasinski. "
Appointment scheduling systems are used in Health care industries across the world to schedule appointments and provide services to patients. There are many factors that affects the effectiveness of appointment scheduling system and the bottleneck lies in effective utilization of operation research techniques. The most common type of appointment scheduling systems and their challenges and also the possible solutions by implementing operation research techniques are summarized in this paper.
Operations management strategies play an important role in any organization to achieve organizational goals. An organization uses these operations strategies to maintain and control all its operations...