stm _ grp4_sec_b_thedacare.....ques one.docx

8/12/2019 STM _ Grp4_Sec_B_ThedaCare.....ques one.docx

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Question 1:

Evolution of the approach of ThedaCare towards cost reduction and differentiation over time

Thedacare's mission was "to improve the health of the community" and they pursued it by providing

better quality services. Their initiative "Touchpoint" did significant improvements to operations and

thus patient care. IDCOP significantly improved patient and staff satisfaction and also revenues.

Thedacare's strategy was to improve quality of their service and also patient and staff satisfaction.

They strived to achieve a lean system with reduced patient waiting time. They sold Touchpoint in

order to focus on their healthcare business displayed their commitment towards quality and not

only profit. Thedacare Inpatient System was a big achievement for the company, bringing in

significant improvements in account receivables and simplifying patient registration. They wanted toprovide only the best service and that's why divided some departments between the two major

Thedacare hospitals even at the risk of losing patients. Theda care improved customer satisfaction

by reducing the gaps in patient care reducing the time required for appointments and dramatically

reduced lead time in its orthopaedic plus initiative. One point to note is that even after such changes

we can see from exhibit 4 that for similar number of admissions and outpatient visits the expenses

of Theda Clark and AMC are more compared to St Elizabeth's. It can be seen that Thedacare is an

innovative organization which focussed on quality and easing the process for its patients which

resulted in patient satisfaction and thus a better reputation. It reported very high employee

satisfaction and thus is safe to assume was able to attract and retain better physicians which would

have been a big strength for Thedacare.

Question 2:

Root causes of the resistance by the physicians against different improvement projects

ThedaCare had adopted lean process engineering to improve the quality of service provided to

patients and at the same time reducing cost of service. This met with a lot of resistance from the

physicians as they were not sure if ideas adopted from other industries could be implemented in

healthcare. In the pilot project, ThedaCare first taught a select group of physicians the basics of lean

process engineering and allowed them to propagate it to the other physicians. Although the project

improved business and clinical performance, it faced stiff resistance from most of the physicians

working for ThedaCare. They questioned the applicability of techniques generated in the auto

industry (Toyota) in healthcare. Also, the terminologies used in lean process engineering were

unfamiliar to the physicians and so, they had doubts on the relevance of the terms. Some of the


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physicians might have even found it offensive to take lessons from assembly line workers of the auto

industry.

stm _ grp4_sec_b_thedacare.....ques one.docx

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