Optimizing healthcare processes

Bill Nordgren explains how healthcare has gone Master Black Belt.

“Staffing issues such as too many patients per nurse, not enough housekeeping personnel and overtime policies all affect the patient length of stay (LOS) and directly increase costs”
-Bill Nordgren

By definition a Master Black Belt (MBB) has been trained as a Six Sigma Black Belt and demonstrated proficiency in statistical tools and expertise in leading and teaching others. Within healthcare organizations, the MBB trains Black Belts and Green Belts, helping to select, scope and mentor projects. MBBs also guide the organization in addressing quality from a strategic business perspective and focusing statistical problem-solving efforts to drive results. In short the MBB is charged with optimizing healthcare processes to insure quality and cost reduction. The MBB is proficient in implementing Lean process techniques to improve the efficiency and cost of processes and activities. If your hospital or hospital group does not have an MBB, it will. And when it does, get ready for change.

Change is good right? Well not always, especially if change is not for the better. Someone who does not completely understand why a current process is followed and what the impacts of that change will be makes the worse kind of change. On paper many changes look exceptional. In reality they fail miserably. Many changes increase the workload of healthcare workers to the point that patient care suffers. Staffing issues such as too many patients per nurse, not enough housekeeping personnel and overtime policies all affect the patient length of stay (LOS) and directly increase costs. Waiting time for patients in emergency departments (ED) has historically been hours. How does a hospital solve these kinds of problems? Can a simple change to the process help? Can reducing waste (time, money) through a kaizen event produce the desired outcome? How will affect patient care? How can you be sure the decisions and plans made will work?

The answer to these questions is simple and it's called simulation. Simulation allows you to model before and after scenarios to prove that process changes will work. Not only will a simulation model determine if they work, but they will tell the extent of the improvement. Healthcare simulation has made dramatic improvements in the last two years to allow those who understand the healthcare process to effectively model real-life scenarios in 3D and determine the benefits of proposed changes. Every healthcare professional has seen the aftermath of a poor decision that was implemented without a full understanding of the effect of the change. Simulation can not only prevent bad ideas, but simulation can prove the good ideas and maximize the benefit optimizing processes and procedures. The cost of implementing bad policies and procedures can be astronomical. The cost savings resulting from simulation and proving the value of good change is significant.

Simulation software, like Flexsim HC that has been specifically designed from the ground up to model complex healthcare process, is a significant benefit. Until recently, if you wanted to simulate a healthcare process you were forced to use manufacturing simulation software. Manufacturing simulation software does not handle the complexities of the healthcare environment. At best manufacturing tools could only handle 20-40 percent of the problems in healthcare. The fact is healthcare processes are not like manufacturing problems and need to be treated differently. Flexsim HC knows healthcare.

So the question now is, "Will you gamble on change or will you prove your changes before you implement them?" Simulation is the only tool that can verify if a proposed change is good or bad before you implement it. Give your MBB the tool they need to prove change is good before implementation. Face it: change is here. Validate and verify before unwanted changes plague your hospital with excessive costs and lower patient care.

Bill Nordgren founded Flexsim Software Products, Inc. Nordgren has authored several papers dealing with simulation project management, queuing theory, and has taught hundreds of classes in the use of simulation software. He received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science from Brigham Young University.