"Fractured Convergence" Solution for Healthcare

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in” –Michael Corleone from the movie Godfather III. This in one of my favorite Godfather quotes because it captures my feelings at this moment in time. While attempting to go straight, it seems that Michael’s enemies still see him as a threat. Once a bad guy, always a bad guy… 

While not a bad guy, hopefully, my “Captain Quality” days keep surfacing as we try to anticipate how we can positively impact our customers in the move to value based care. One of the basic tenents of Total Quality Management (TQM) is another acronym, Just In Time (JIT). Just in time means that the inventory, people, and processes are at the point of need at precisely the time they’re needed. In manufacturing, making all this happen in real-time is the difference between creating the highest quality product at the absolute lowest cost. 

Just In Time works for the service sector as well but healthcare has some interesting anomalies that make the journey more difficult. First, healthcare providers can’t stock either their services or products on a limited basis as other service company’s do. When you need healthcare, you need it to be responsive. Secondly, while the distribution chain is similar, the inventory required is far more complex. Thirdly, without visibility into demand, huge buffers are created to service spikes in demand. These buffers represent excess cost in both people time and supplies, and do very little to fix flawed processes that may also be inhibiting our need to constantly improve. 

Our industry has made inroads on the supply side of the equation. Between bar coding, scanning and intelligent distribution methods, technology is putting us into the position to becoming just in time. Our remaining “Fractures” are around continual process improvement (Re-Imagineering), and becoming as predictive as we can. 

Total Quality is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. From top to bottom, people have to buy into the journey aspect of the pursuit of quality. Like my favorite pastime of golf, quality is not a game of perfect. While we seek perfection, the journey never really ends because we’re always trying to get better at the game. Always looking for that one lesson, tip, or new club that will give us that perfect swing that we all want, and can never find consistently.  In healthcare, the grind of continual improvement has to be supported by both technology and the organizational determination to be the very best it can be today.

That belief is what led us to design the SIMP/LE Platform to deliver two things, the data required for continual improvement, and the SIMP/LE Re-Imagineering methodology. SIMP/LE stands for Speed, Insight, Management, Platform / Live Environment. Providing both products on the same platform on a subscription basis allows us to focus in on the most meaningful institutional measures, and processes that should be improved first. Clinical Re-Imagineering happens real time by delivering the methodology for transformation with the data to support it. By combining both we can help institutionalize quality as an ongoing, ever-changing march to continual improvement. 

The failure I had as “Captain Quality” was due to the fact that we were not able to institutionalize the movement. Total Quality became an event, not a movement. Management used the opportunity to cut cost (people) rather than allow the natural progression of Re-Imagineering to re-allocate, and yes eliminate wasted time, effort, and perhaps some people. The very second the folks on the ground realized Quality was an event; we lost the momentum that we ultimately never recovered. 

While we can’t control the culture of any organization, we can make sure that  the SIMP/LE Platform supports the efforts of those organizations that want to evolve in a value based quality driven system. The support organization we’re building to do Re-Imagineering will consist of both technical and clinical support folks. We envision nursing, and physician expertise available to support the depth and breath of the transformation. By offering the SIMP/LE Platform through a subscription, and over the Internet, we will empower the end user while keeping the cost within reach of institutions of any size and scope. 

The G2 Works and Pivot Point Consulting partnership is committed to providing a better way to transforming the industry. Collectively the leadership of these two companies’ has almost two hundred years’ worth of experience. That belief is what fuels this partnership. We believe that you can produce both a product, and a service that delivers real value to our clients. We believe that transformation is a journey not a death march. However, it is clear that all healthcare organizations today need to maximize the value of their data assets in a way that allows them to focus on quality of service. Our offering is affordable, nimble and tailorable to the client’s needs. We want to work with the willing. We also believe that if we maintain the focus on our why, our purpose, our beliefs, we might actually be able to make a real difference in the industry we all love.