In the 1970s, they key management trend was product line marketing and major companies adopted this concept to think from a customer’s perspective and then organize accordingly. Later on in the 1980s came the concept of service line management. This was the healthcare industry’s answer to product line thinking.
Today, healthcare struggles with service lines. Some hospitals have made the conversion, while others question if it’s really a good idea. There are some key areas to consider with service line operations.
Service line management is any specialized care system that a hospital has set up to span across departments. Examples, would be women’s health centers, cancer centers, and cardiology laboratories. Some argue that it improves clinical, operational, and even financial performance and results in the best patient care and satisfaction.
The argument is if service line management actually does improve healthcare delivery and makes it more efficient. It has been found, in most cases, that hospitals utilizing these proactive service line operations are more efficient than their counterparts that don’t. Service line operations improve the coordination of patient care internally and externally.
The most successful examples for service lines include the collaboration of physicians over the development of different services. Managing care under this model can improve the way services are delivered, ultimately providing a better experience for patients such as shorter wait times and hospital stays, as well as fewer acquired conditions.
The greatest benefit is that it provides hospital staff with a sense of ownership and more focused-centered care. Hospitals who have adopted service line management report higher morale and motivation in staff members.
Hospitals use a variety of strategies to cut costs, while improving care quality. One approach is that physicians receive a management fee and bonuses are factored into their performance. Other facilities use a combination of methods.
Although each facility is different in their approach, they all generally include physician and hospital goals, performance measurement, involvement of physicians, and payment of physicians for their contributions made to improving these clinical service lines.
Hospital management needs to create a structure that promotes innovation with the hospital’s strategic plan. This includes an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system that includes an integrated system operating in real time, a database that supports all applications, a consistent look across modules, and the installation of the system.
ERP systems can be customized, so a hospital would have options with interfacing it with their system. ERP systems have grown in functionality and customization. High functioning ERP systems can go beyond just numbers to include exactly what hospitals and healthcare facilities need. These systems also expand how medical professionals use the software.
With user-defined fields, they can create special fields for processes that are not normally included in the ERP software. The ERP can also manage customer information, contact information, and patient history.