Lean Management in Hospitals for Labor Productivity Improvement and Best Outcomes Finding the right balance between productivity and staffing is vital for healthcare process improvement. Managers need to achieve balance between patient engagement and staff productivity to get best outcomes. The hospitals must have proper tools to capture and report timely, accurate and relevant patient data that could enable leaders to take well informed decisions and empower teams to drive for results. Business managers must be held accountable for taking action on the information received. Principles of lean management Lean management primarily aims at creating value without waste through activities that add customer value and get coordinated in a seamless manner, eliminating non-value activities in the process. Lean management in hospitals is applied to boost productivity, reduce lead time and improve customer and employee satisfaction. The management principles can be applied to specific circumstances of a hospital, clinic or the needs of the patients. The five lean principles are:
Identifying customers and specifying value added Identifying and mapping value streams Organizing according to customer pull Creating flow by eliminating waste Improving continuously
Lean management in hospitals is widely being used by the healthcare industry all over the world to get best outcomes, minimizing the wastes. Before starting with a lean hospital management project, it is important to analyze current situation of the hospital and assess the appropriateness of the planned lean activities. Based on that knowledge, change management can be aligned to the specific needs of a hospital or clinic so that the lean hospital project is successful and does not cause waste by itself. Lean approach to hospital management helps in reducing the stress on staff and allows them to deliver the care they are supposed to.
Improving labor productivity Healthcare is extremely labor intensive market, with labor costs making up to 50 percent or more of many hospital budgets. So, for a hospital to thrive profitably, it is imperative to improve labor productive. Labor productivity is the ratio of output to input, compared to expectation. Productivity = Output/Input It is the efficiency at which inputs are turned into outputs. The simplest measure of productivity is output per hour worked, or labor productivity. To serve the customers at lower cost, a hospital needs to improve it efficiency and productivity. The productivity again depends on how effectively the hospital is able to use its resources, money and material. The intended users must receive thorough training to utilize the equipment most efficiently. Assessing hospital labor productivity is crucial for a hospital to get best outcomes from their existing resources. The need to have more effective use of resources has become all the more pressing due to restructuring of the healthcare market. As a healthcare facility owner, you need not tackle all the issues at once. Start small by identifying the areas that are in most need of improvement. Group50 offers lean management healthcare consulting through a variety of mentoring services for a healthcare business success. Their experts will help you develop a sustainable culture of continuous improvement for your healthcare facility. They have consultants on role who are veterans in the industry they serve. Contact Group50 for your any needs related to healthcare process improvement and management.