Application of BPR in healthcare

By Ankush Gupta

Environmental pressure to cut cost and to increase productivity has given in a new face to TQM in the form of continuous quality improvement and total productivity management (TPM). In the implementation of TPM, Business Process Reengineering (BPR) plays a core role. Globalisation has forced different types of production industries to resort to BPR for reducing the operating cost and maintaining production cost to a level where it remains competitive.

Exponential rise in the cost of delivery of healthcare services, price competition, market realignment are the major factors that are forcing hospitals to scrutinize their business processes and to redesign them in a manner that would not only help to keep the prices competitive but also help in delivering quality care to the patients.

In early eighties, service environment design and service process design were more focused on clinical effectiveness and technical efficiency. In late nineties, the focus included patient customer service excellence along with clinical components. The methodology of healthcare purchase is gradually shifting from cash and carry model to third party payments through insurance companies and reimbursement schemes.

In such an environment, BPR is a problem-solving approach that emphasises radical redesign of business process to achieve dramatic improvements in critical contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality, service and speed. The elements of BPR are to be constrained by total service experience and also should focus on seamless service to patients across various functional areas in hospital.

The process of BPR is effective to obtain gradual, incremental improvement. In the healthcare industry, the most dynamic change is technology. With each change in technology, the methodology of service delivery changes. For example, the process of gastro intestinal surgeries has shown a major change by the introduction of endoscopy. In the healthcare industry, new technology acquisition always brings new capabilities to business, thereby raising the competitive bar and the need to improve business processes becomes mandatory.

In India where per capita health expenditure is not very high and also healthcare budget is decreasing, BPR can provide some solution in reducing wasteful processes in government health setups. Private hospitals can also get benefit from BPR in containing cost and keeping the cost within the reach of general masses.

The major factors that are forcing hospitals to utilise concepts of BPR are:- Delivery of improved service quality to external customers- Reducing bottlenecks by improving service quality to internal customers- Improve financial performance by cost cutting- Improve clinical performance- Reduce processing time of service delivery- Adopt the positive experiences of healthcare organisations abroad- Pressure to comply with regulatory requirements- To remain competitive with other healthcare organisations

A BPR project may have following steps:

1. Identification of department/ processBased on cost center analysis and revenue generations in various departments, it becomes very important to identify departments and processes within departments which need a BPR project. For example: Waiting time is high in OPD.

2. Objectives of BPR projectIt could be to —- Increase service level- Reduce total process cycle time- Reduce waiting time- Increase throughput- Reduce activity cost- Reduce inventory costs

3. Methodology definitionTeam to undertake project and tools to be used for problem analysis and solution testing are to be decided next. In case of problems relating to waiting time in OPD, the team comprising of OPD executives, consultants and designated members from projects department could be constituted. A variety of tools are available for business process reengineering ranging from workflow diagrams to computerised simulation models. In case of OPD, the team can actually draw work flow diagrams to identify wasteful process and to find an alternative process sequence.

4. Standard process and its analysisBenchmarks are available for various activities carried out by hospitals and these benchmarks can be analysed for application to individual projects. Apart from that, a number of hospitals in the US have implemented concepts of BPR. These case studies can be utilised for learning and to avoid commission of mistakes done by these hospitals.

5. Development of solutionOnce the problem is analysed and all key decisions are taken, the team can then start working on solutions. In case of OPD waiting time, the new sequence of activities in the process can be tested in simulated environment to have an approximate idea of new waiting time.

6. ImplementationIn case of OPD, the new process models need implementation of computers and developing a computerised module for appointments and voucher generation. Implementation of computerised modules will take overtime and the process can be shifted from manual to computerised completely only when the system settles down. A BPR solution has to be implemented in phases.

Factors contributing towards successful business process reengineering:- Perception and awareness of executives on BPR- Process reengineering can only succeed if top management is committed- Bottom up acceptance of process reengineering design is the key to implementation success- Bench marking is a contemporary tool to process reengineering- Information technology, computers and communications - Continuous quality improvement is a necessary pre-requisite for the more intense process of reengineering- Organization redesign (restructure) is necessary in support of process reengineering- Process reengineering is top-down directed

Factors responsible for unsuccessful business process reengineering:- Lack of cooperation from staff as process reengineering is viewed as job cutting- Insufficient staff training and skill development- Lack of enthusiasm and interest- Lack of access to information (e.g. bench marking data)- Lack of funding leads to problem in acquisition of technology and research in BPR- No top management support in trying to implement solutions generated by BPR initiatives- Low priority- Selection and training of employees in BPR process is time consuming- Internal control is not well defined under the new process-reengineering project- Personnel turnover is a major problem because new employee takes time to understand BPR process and also implementation becomes difficult

BPR through simulation of service based processesSimulation of service based process is very difficult because both the flow objects and resources (to an extent) are human. In case of hospitals, the arrivals of patients is highly variable and customer arrivals are random. In last few years, a few simulation tools have been developed to aid implementation of service based processes. Discrete event-based simulation is a powerful tool which uses animation to allow the reengineering team to visualize the flow objects through various activities systems.

In a service industry like hospitals, good process management can provide with requisite cutting edge which can become a competitive advantage over other service providers in the market. Business process reengineering may not be necessarily cheap, it can be expensive also in the initial phases. In case of computerization of front office i.e. admission and billing in a hospital, the cost of installing computers and implementing a package can be very high but at the same time computerization reduces processing time, saves manpower and also helps in strategic control (which may not be possible in manual system) which can help save money to the hospital.