Just-in-Time Management in Healthcare Operations

Reducing costs and improving quality are two of the most important goals in managing healthcare operations. In this study, we explore how to improve healthcare operations by integrating Just-in-Time (JIT) management system. We first introduce the JIT management system, and then discuss how it can generate benefits in healthcare operations. We investigate implications for healthcare practice, which include how JIT techniques can be applied to healthcare operations, how hospitals and general practices can use JIT techniques, how JIT can help the patient throughput rate, and how technological advances can speed up healthcare processes. Implications for management and directions for future research are discussed

HSPM 7335: Healthcare Operations Management

This course examines operational issues in health care management. Topics include systems analysis, continuous quality improvement and re-engineering, demand forecasting, facility location and design models, decision analysis techniques, linear programming, queuing and waiting models, inventory control models, and statistical quality control. The goal is to instill an understanding of the language, applications, and limitations of quantitative models with regard to decision-making and problem solving in health care organizations

COVID-19 outbreak: implications on healthcare operations

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic is considered a major disruptive event of this decade, raising unforeseen socio-economic implications worldwide. This novel virus has increased the influx of patients in hospitals, and healthcare organisations are facing unprecedented constraints in their operations to deal with increased demand and pressed capacity. Thus, this article evaluates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare systems' demand, resources and capacity and provides research directions. Design/methodology/approach This is a viewpoint article and uses timely information on healthcare operations from both scholars and managers, published by diverse sources during the COVID-19 outbreak. Findings The authors discuss the focus on “flattening the curve of infection” as a measure to protect healthcare, delay the impact of increased demand and reorientate healthcare supply chain practices. Furthermore, the authors evaluate the role of lean practices on managing demand and capacity and improving quality across healthcare operations and supply chain. Finally, the authors suggest research directions on modern operational issues that emerged during this pandemic, such as discussions around the sustainability of lean post-pandemic, “just in time” practices, inventory trade-offs and lack of organisational responsiveness during untenable events. Originality/value In this article, the authors provide a contemporary assessment of the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare operations, underscoring main economic and operational elements that can be affected, such as unforeseen demand, resources and capacity shortage. Therefore, the authors assess that healthcare organisations, practitioners and governments have to anticipate operational and economic impacts and, ultimately, to reassess their plans to deal with such adverse events

Operational research modelling to support healthcare operations management

One often proffered guide for OR model building is that the model should be made as simple as possible subject to meeting its purpose. In healthcare operations management the purpose of an OR model is often to persuade the appropriate stakeholders to modify a system in a way that (hopefully) turns out to be an improvement. Hence the choice of model can be very context-specific, depending very much who needs to be convinced of what. This general issue is examined via a brief description of five different modelling approaches that have been used to support operations management of outpatient clinics. The extent to which the approaches might be 'fit for purpose' in different is discussed

Essays in Healthcare Operations

This dissertation includes three essays, which address significant issues that healthcare practitioners throughout the world face today. The fundamental research that I first address is a research agenda for reimbursement impacts upon healthcare operations management. The purpose of the first essay is to offer conceptual frameworks that portray the fundamental architecture of the U.S. healthcare system and its connections to healthcare reimbursement systems. The research method involves inductive theory development. I contend such frameworks are useful for healthcare operations management research. Using the frameworks, this essay suggests promising research opportunities that should stimulate emerging research themes in the healthcare industry and in academic healthcare operations research. These findings furnish a research agenda with timely insights for practitioners and academia. One conclusion of the essay is the lack of prior research relevant to healthcare reimbursement processes and their impacts on healthcare operations. The essay also concludes that key research opportunities relate to reimbursement boundaries, reimbursement strategy, reimbursement resources, reimbursement impacts, and reimbursement technology. In the second essay, I examine how scheduling policies can improve healthcare quality and doctor efficiency in outpatient healthcare facilities. The purpose is to develop an outpatient appointment scheduling approach under situations of patient no-shows and patient heterogeneity. Based on detailed analytical and simulation methods, the essay evaluates and compares the performance of my approach against several outpatient scheduling policies under various scenarios, and provides advice regarding optimal policies for outpatient clinics. The findings show that my proposed scheduling algorithms show efficient scheduling performance relative to prior proposed policies. In short, the findings of the second essay provide new applicable scheduling polices for outpatient scheduling. The findings also derive qualitative implications for clinic schedulers for improving the most effective way of scheduling outpatient operations. The conclusion is that the proposed scheduling approach can be potentially useful for outpatient facilities. Finally, the third essay empirically examines how managerial operational responses of hospitals vary in response to external pressures imposed upon them by government policies. The purpose is to examine whether hospitals respond to such policies by improving operating processes and quality outcomes, or by gaming their response by adjusting patient case mixes and other metrics associated with financial benefits for the hospital, instead of operational improvement. To validate whether hospitals respond suitably to an ongoing U.S. government quality improvement program, called the Value Based Purchasing (VBP) program, I explore how the program influences subsequent behaviors of U.S. hospitals. Using observational data from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and several other sources, I use regression analysis methods to provide empirical evidence of the effects of this government policy. The essay findings show that financially penalized hospitals use tactics consistent with symbolic practices, which may be an unintended outcome from the VBP project. The conclusion is that theoretically motivated contextual differences exist in the behaviors of hospitals when facing these external government pressures

Using discrete event simulation (DES) to manage theatre operations in healthcare: An audit-based case study

This paper discusses the application of Discrete Event Simulation (DES) in modelling the complex relationship between patient types, case-mix and operating theatre allocation in a large National Health Service (NHS) Trust in London. The simulation model that was constructed described the main features of nine theatres, focusing on operational processes and patient throughput times. The model was used to test three scenarios of case-mix and to demonstrate the potential of using simulation modelling as a cost effective method for understanding the issues of healthcare operations management and the role of simulation techniques in problem solving. The results indicated that removing all day cases will reduce patient throughput by 23.3% and the utilization of the orthopaedic theatre in particular by 6.5%. This represents a case example of how DES can be used by healthcare managers to inform decision making

Curriculum Development on Healthcare Information Systems, Healthcare Supply Chain Management and Healthcare Operations Management

This paper presents the foundation for curriculum amendment in the College of Business at Eastern Michigan University to prepare our students for the tremendous job opportunities that are presently available in the healthcare arena. Specifically, this curriculum change incorporates three major areas in healthcare management: Healthcare Information Systems, Healthcare Supply Chain and Healthcare Operations Management. In order to properly chart the changes in the curriculum, research is presented that defines and discusses these components for suitable curriculum building that will enable graduates to effectively perform in the healthcare industry. Additionally, presented in this paper are the detailed objectives and teaching pedagogy of a special topics graduate course in Healthcare Operations Management that recently has been developed at Eastern Michigan University

The Prediction Predicament

The article focuses on the prediction of predicament in terms of forecasting at industrial engineering level. Topics discussed include business optimize resources via forecasting; audience who cannot comprehend the methodology used for forecasting in healthcare operations; and use of forecasting for performance measurement