Problem: Patient Throughput Bottlenecks

One of your greatest impediments to growth is patient throughput. Whether in the E.R., inpatient units, or outpatient clinic, the inability to move patients through the care continuum effectively and efficiently can create artificial capacity constraints that lead to physician defections, patient dissatisfaction, quality and safety issues, higher costs, and lost revenue.

The typical answer to patient throughput problems is capital expansion: larger emergency rooms, more inpatient beds, and the conversion of clinic offices to exam rooms. But all too often, patient bottleneck problems are only temporarily resolved through expansion, as the inefficiencies that existed in patient flow quickly expand to fill the additional capacity. Without a fundamental redesign of the patient flow process, the problem is never really solved – it is only temporarily masked.

Solution: Redesign From End to Beginning

Healthcare organizations can typically create additional effective capacity of as much as 30% by redesigning processes from end to beginning. This requires that you work backward through the process and redesign specific process components one project at a time. For instance, to overcome an inpatient flow problem requires that you first redesign the discharge process, gradually moving backward through the entire value stream until you conclude with a redesign of the admitting function.

While an end-to-beginning methodology may seem counter-intuitive, working from beginning to end in a patient flow process only pushes patients downstream faster, thereby exacerbating bottlenecks. To permanently solve patient throughput bottlenecks, strategicplanningMD works with organizations to redesign patient flow processes from discharge to admitting. Our services include:

  1. Creation of current state, ideal state, and future value stream maps.
  2. Analysis of current state to identify timing and nature of redesign projects.
  3. Training on redesign methodologies and tools.
  4. Project planning, scoping, and business case analysis.
  5. Project facilitation and oversight.
  6. Design implementation.
  7. Communications and process control plans.

If you want to create additional effective capacity, then call us at 800-535-1559. We’ll show you the possibilities for permanently eliminating patient throughout bottlenecks.