Explain the importance of variation to healthcare organizati

Explain the importance of variation to health-care organizations and answer the following questions.

What might be the key processes for health-care organizations?

What are the potential common causes of variation that would have an impact on the key processes of health-care organizations?

What special causes might be more important than the others?

How might health-care organizations’ business environment be dynamic and change over time?

Solution

The key processes for health-care organisations are as follows:

a) Keeping healthy

b) Detecting health problems

c) Diagnosing diseases

d) Treating diseases

e) Providing a good end of life

The potential common causes of variation that would have an impact on the key processes of health-care organizations are:

a) Phenomena constantly active within the system;

b) Variation predictable probabilistically;

c) Irregular variation within a historical experience base;

d) Lack of significance in individual high or low values.

The special causes that might be more important than the others are:

a) New, unanticipated, emergent or previously neglected phenomena within the system;

b) Variation inherently unpredictable, even probabilistically;

c) Variation outside the historical experience base;

d) Evidence of some inherent change in the system or our knowledge of it.

Health care providers are increasing facing the challenging, dynamic changes in the healthcare industry. The current health care system is very confusing for the health care providers because of the uncertain economic situations, availability of limited resources, constant changes in the regulatory requirement, low reimbursement for the medical services, and the costs of health care services. Other challenging issues like the competitive market forces, demographic shifts, consumers lifestyle changes, and innovated medical technologies can also create barriers or obstacles for the health care providers to deliver a better quality of services and maintain highest level of stakeholder’s satisfaction.