We've all heard the old saying "Every Second Counts", well
in an outpatient clinic's patient flow efficiency, seconds can be the
difference between a satisfied patient or a dissatisfied one.
Many Lean leaders will agree that you must start small and
take baby steps to achieve real progress towards your improvement goals. This
is very prevalent in outpatient clinics where many basic tasks are performed repeatedly,
ultimately wasting time. Reducing the time it takes to do many small tasks by
even 2-3 seconds can have a huge impact on a clinics' bottom line.
This article paints a
fantastic picture of what can happen when Lean is applied in an outpatient clinic
setting. With so many areas to look at improving, where should you start? One
place to start would be improving the patient experience and patient
satisfaction by removing waste from the overall patient flow process from when
the patient checks in to when they check out.
By applying Lean principles and implementing technology like
this tool, outpatient clinics could see an
additional 2-3 patients per day per provider without increasing staff. Implementing
tools like that could have a tremendous impact on your clinic's revenue.