Increasing efficiency in healthcare: a showcase in an orthopedic outpatient clinic

Abstract

PurposeCost reduction is a current topic within healthcare. This article aims to show how Lean Six Sigma can be applied to make the orthopedic outpatient clinic within a hospital more cost-effective. The approach can, of course, also be applied to other departments.Design/methodology/approachWe did a pareto analysis to select the project with the greatest potential. The most expensive and time-consuming activity is repeat consultations; these number around 7,500 per year and are all performed by the orthopedic surgeon. This limits the number of appointments available for new patients. Moreover, the hospital gets a fixed amount of money for each new patient. Therefore, reducing the number of repeat consultations is beneficial to both the patient and the hospital.FindingsBased on data analysis, we found that the number of repeat consultations performed by orthopedic surgeons can be reduced by 19.5%. An additional 10.8% can be performed by phone, which will probably save the surgeons considerable time. The freed-up time can be used for new patients. Another result is that hospital visits by patients for repeat consults can be reduced by 20.3%. We believe that these efficiency improvements are also possible for other departments/processes. Finally, in the given case, the freed-up time for new patients could generate 465K euros.Originality/valueThis article shows that 20% of the care provided by the physicians (i.e. repeat consults) is omissible. While most projects focus on doing the same number of activities in a more efficient way, this paper shows that it is also possible to reduce the amount of medical care provided. We believe that it would be beneficial to take such a perspective when looking at other processes and departments within healthcare.