While many doctors and small medical facilities are looking to electronic medical records or electronic medical billing software as the solution to fixing their management issues, a new report from FierceHealthcare indicates non-traditional training methods – such as Six Sigma – could help hospitals retool the way they operate in a way that benefits patients.
After applying the lessons of this business strategy tool to problems with patient care, Mercy St. Vincent's, an Ohio-based medical center found that it was able to improve its quality by the more traditional metrics it initially turned away from.
According to the news source, Mercy St. Vincent's increased their core performance by 37 percent, reduced preventable harm by more than 70 percent and cut infection rates nearly in half. But, the facility didn't just succeed at retooling its operations, it also improved patient satisfaction. More than 75 percent of patients would now recommend Mercy St. Vincent's to family and friends, which is six points above the national average of 69 percent.
"They feel like they are heard, that they are part of an improvement process," Dr. Imran Andrabi, a former Mercy St. Vincent CEO, told the news source. "Hopefully, we are on the right track in creating a system that not only works for our patients but for our caregivers."
One of the main changes that helped the facility was creating a physical location where doctors and nurses could manage patient care logistics at all hours of the day. Representatives of the facility compared it to an air traffic control hub.
But, since outside training may not be the best solution for many overstretched employees, healthcare professionals may benefit the most from a consulting service that can help them overhaul their medical practice management through smart technological upgrades to Allscripts MyWay software.