Operations Management in Healthcare

This book is about how to manage healthcare operations, and combines clinicians’ and administrators’ viewpoints to provide a common platform and framework for building competitive advantage through superior operations. It is organized in six parts, with a special emphasis on the competitive priorities. Part I covers a brief history of healthcare, the challenges it faces today, the role of operations in overcoming these challenges, and describes the process of strategy development, and addresses the concepts and techniques of project management. The second part covers methodologies, tools, and techniques central to quality improvement. Patients’ perceptions of quality (the “voice of the customer”) are translated into objective process metrics (the “voice of the process”) using a framework called the “house of quality”. Total quality management, Lean, and Six Sigma principles are described along with tools and statistical process control (SPC) techniques to uncover problems and direct improvements. Part III deals with process analysis and design principles, and presents techniques to determine optimal capacity levels and formulate patient-centric schedules. The fourth section covers quantitative forecasting techniques and qualitative techniques such as the Delphi method, emphasizes the importance of selecting the right suppliers and managing relationships with them, and explores the concepts related to the costs of healthcare services. While Section V explores the multiple facets of flexibility and its drivers and highlights the role of technology in facilitating the flow of consistent information, the last section mentions the merits of accreditation and urges organizations to go beyond meeting the standards. Refer to the Student Supplements for resources to help you complete the exercises in the text: Data Sets, Excel files, Videos, ExtendSim® files, and instructions for accessing a Student Version of ExtendSim®.