Optimization and Digitization of processes within a healthcare institution
Optimization and Digitization of processes within a healthcare institution
At Zenit we breathe business process. When we look at an organization, we look through the organization structure and see business processes. With the Customer we identify the first process to improve. Often, these are very manual, error-prone processes, in which employees do many manual interactions with different systems, or in Excel. Because of the manual manipulation of data, and the need to correct errors that become a frustrating hurdle later in processes, organizations spend much too much time in this area than serving their customers. In practice this means lower level of service, or longer waiting times where for instance where patient care is involved.
At Zenit, we use workshops and interviews to assess the current process with people who actually are working in the process. By walking through the process, we identify the painful mishaps in the process. Quick wins will be implemented at once, but the analyses merely focuses on how the process currently works to identify the starting point for improvement. Sometimes, more recently, we use in addition modern Business Process Intelligence tooling to do data-crunching of logfiles of operational systems, visually displaying odd routes or waiting times during process execution.
But where it becomes interesting, is when designing new processes. For these new processes, Zenit applies a usual format of rolebased ‘swimlane’ diagrams to design the new end-to-end process. Because Zenit uses its Integration-hub (Integration-broker) and data integration/data cleansing expertise, we invite our customer to dream up their ideal process…. And realize this!
Because we let computers and software talk to each other through our Integration-hub), in a way that is directed by our Customer, we can actually implement their dream process, with a large support base from the users. This is because on the one hand they get rid of the frustrating manual labor talking to computers and inserting data, and on the other hand because if they see their role in the swimlane diagram, they see the job they had expected or hoped to do.
The improvements are often done in small, affordable, oversee able steps, which build on top of each other in the direction of the ideal process. Process successes are celebrated, enticing people in a positive mood for change. Organization improvement together with the people involved is a lot of fun.
Client Cases, Optimization and Digitization of processes within a healthcare institution:
For a care institute Zenit helped to identify many manual steps in the sign-on process. Emails are typed again into the care system, following an extensive software-flow with many duplications. Moreover, the service desk that get customers on the phone have written call scripts to help their customers with a variety of questions with complex business rules through different care routes. Often customers end-up at the wrong place and need to be rerouted. First steps are to digitize the sign-on process to take out the email-retyping and to implement ‘smart-forms’, automating the call scripts pulling up the next question because of earlier replies straight into the forms. The completed forms are to filled in by software robots (RPA) into the care system. This way, less highly qualified service desk employees are required to support customers in an effective way and waiting lists for clients become less because of more time of care takers spending less time on solving errors in downstream processes.
