The Importance Of Lean Practices In Health Care

Training Topic: The training topic purposed is, leader standard work, which is a lean tool that helps leaders to identify what is value-add and non-value-add in their work. Once a leader can identify what is non-value add, they begin to reduce the time spent completing these tasks and spend more time coaching their employees to problem solve and improve patient care. In lean value is determined by what the customer is willing to pay for. Consequently, in healthcare, the customer is the patient. Users of this tool do not have to be formal leaders within the organization, but the intent is to enable individuals to manage their daily, weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly activities strategically and to eliminate the the non-value add activities.

In healthcare system the highest quality medical care means” the greatest benefit to patients at the lowest possible cost” (Burke & Ryan, 2014, p. 3). “The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) defines quality health care as doing the right thing for the right patient, at the right time, in the right way to achieve the best possible results” (NCQA, p. 3) According to American college of physicians, the single most reason for the health care cost is higher healthcare spending. There are several factors involved in the high health care cost such as inappropriate use of technologies, lack of patient centered care, overuse of the reimbursement, excessive price for health care facilities, increased organizational cost, and health accountability are some of the reasons for increased health care cost. In order to decrease the cost, the available health resources be used judiciously and equitably. Understanding these factors and identifying the potential factors of health care costs assists in providing quality and effective services and thus improves the health outcomes (ACP, 2009).

The healthcare system in America started as a predominantly volunteer system where patients were required to pay little to nothing for treatment. Since it began, the healthcare industry has seen tremendous changes that have transformed it into a business entity which has operations like financial management, strategic planning and functional specialties to keep the industry viable. The industry is one of the largest in the country employing 15 million people with a projected increase of jobs with 3 million jobs annually. As the healthcare industry continues growing, services and personnel are changing, and various dynamics are coming into play to accommodate changes (Smith, Saunders, Stuckhardt, & McGinnis, 2013).

Health care economics involves making plenty of choices. Individuals, groups, businesses, and organizations choose how to use resources . Economics and health care are linked, because health care professionals apply economics in their everyday professional activities. They are able to do this through resource allocation. Any health care organization has to plan out how they will use their resources to their advantage. Health care economics are able to incorporate terms like cost, quality, and resources. In this paper, I will compare these terms as they relate to health care economics. In this paper, I will also explain how they

Trends indicate the administrative complexity in the U.S. health care system requires that American hospitals employ far larger staffs to handle billing requirements (Anderson & Squires, p. 1-2). Furthermore, despite enormous innovation and investments in technology, the U.S. is failing to achieve improvements in life expectancy. The return on investment has been low; therefore, examination into other methods to increase quality of care, and decrease costs has become compelling. The U.S. has known for quite some time that health care costs, and therefore spending have gotten out of control. There have been several Presidents who have unsuccessfully attempted to help alleviate the nation of this issue. However, with the implementation of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009, we have begun to notice a positive trend, in the said decline in spending. There have been methods implemented to begin helping providers and organizations monitor their progress, reward them for proper adherence, and now there are

Healthcare is a very complicated manipulative system. The way to adjust this system is to initiate modification from all angles, from the bottom to the top. We can take out costs by abridging and regulating so much, especially in the billing and electronic medical record system. We also have to modify operation patterns.

In the article “The Future of Healthcare-Advance, Challenges are Changing the Patient Experience” HealthCare News writer, Joseph Bednar, is trying to emphasize that the Healthcare system is in need of some reform. He says that the Affordable Care Act is going to attempt to add millions of insured patients, but there is a continued shortage on physicians that has been trending for 8 years (1). Hospitals are being asked to provide better services for less money, and there is no way they can be efficient with the drop in profit (1)

Healthcare costs in the United States have increased dramatically over the last few decades compared to healthcare cost in other countries. In return, this has caused many issues like political reevaluation of our health care system, which involves funding and performance. Furthermore, the reasons for the high health care costs includes administrative costs of running the health care system sine about one quarter of health care costs are associated with administration. Additionally, the United States spends a large amount of money on drugs, professionals and required medical equipment to keep up with patient in need of health care. Moreover, high health care costs are a result of lack of competitive free markets, rapid diffusion of new technologies,

Health care systems are refining their strategies in line with the changing market dynamics. These dynamics range from competitions to a change in the technological developments. It is worth noting that other than changes happening in the markets, the health care facilities have been highly impacted by changing legislations, such as the passing of the Affordable Care Act. Constantly evolving health care system calls for reevaluation of current strategies that have an impact on the quality of performance, as well as the value of the services offered to the clients. Historically, the reimbursement was driven by the volume rather than the value. Utilization of efficient transition of care, as a value-based care, will allow for overall cost savings, lower rate of readmission, and continuity of care. The purpose of this paper is to examine the utilization of strategies to enhance the transition of care, as a value-based care.

When talking about the United States healthcare system, it seems any conversation centers around cost. Whether it is corporations or employers talking about rising healthcare premiums that are out of control, to American families discussing getting less coverage for the amount of the premium they pay, or the soon to be retired person who wonders how they will make it with the high cost of Medicare premiums and prescription drugs. The challenge continues to be delivering world class healthcare at an affordable cost to all stakeholders. The cost of healthcare continues to impact the dominating delivery system of Managed Care here in the United States.

Healthcare is under scrutiny to find cost reductions or cost containment. Available healthcare dollars are diminishing with an increased aging population and costs continually on the rise there is a need for healthcare institutions to become more accountable in how the dollars are spent. Canadian healthcare is 11.2% of gross domestic product in 2013 (Information, 2013)Pressure exists to maintain current service levels with decreasing budget dollars year after year. Healthcare institutions (administration and sometimes physicians) spend a substantial amount of time and energy yearly cutting dollars from existing budgets in order to provide a balanced budget. Savings come in the form of salaries (jobs), supply savings, and

The healthcare system plays a key role in the economic stability of our country, as every year trillions are spent in attempt to combat disease and health issues that plaque humanity. As it makes up a significant amount of the expenditures in the economy, so the costs associated with health care of those in pain from illness and injury, including lost productivity, increased need of assistance in living and also the cost of death in some cases, is important to the economic stability and over all standard of living in our country. The key to economic prosperity is balancing the need for care with the costs of illness to keep as many people healthy and well without breaking the bank of collective society. The costs of healthcare have been increasingly problematic in recent years with so many issues surrounding the current system. With the “total health care spending in the United States expected to reach $4.8 trillion in 2021, up from $2.6 trillion in 2010 and $75 billion in 1970, meaning that health care spending will account for nearly 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or one-fifth of the U.S. economy, by 2021” (Aetna). With this in mind it is apparent that as we look at the trillion-dollar industry of the medical community it seems that it needs to be a major focus of our nation as a whole and with the many issues come many creative solutions. First let us analyze the reasons behind the current cost and the major problems facing this industry and than discus what

The healthcare sector has experienced some financial constraints over the past years and this is believed to be as a result of high costs that they spend. The hospitals have been undergoing rising cost of healthcare and this has raised eyebrows of many people associated with this, the top managers and the government not left out. The high cost of healthcare is caused by various reasons that are directly associated with the operations in the hospitals and the clinics. Many claims have therefore been come up with in order to reduce the costs of all that is spent. For instance, In United states of America, the Affordable Care Act was formed so as to check on how the costs could be reduced. The key factor in this is, healthcare cost is reduced and at the same time the quality of the healthcare service provision improved as elaborated by, Taheri, P. A., Butz, D. A., & Greenfield, L. J. (2000).

Hospitals and health systems in the U.S. are experiencing a remarkable transformation in their business models directed from numerous influences that are projected to ultimately turn the industry around. Pressures include providers troubled with the quantity of services they are responsible for, to providers who concentrate on presenting high-cost services that give emphasis to sustaining healthy populations (Dunn & Becker, 2013).

The Healthcare industry represents about 20 percent when it comes to the Gross Domestic Product and is currently accounting for nearly $1.5 trillion in revenues. Despite the fact, the healthcare industry still remains to be vulnerable. Years of funding cuts, Medicaid reductions in reimbursements and cuts in medicare payments are the source of the cause. Some of the main reasons were caused by