STOP IFRS - Reengineering Health Care

This is not a good sign that I have not been keeping up with this blog. The bad news is that I am also falling behind in my CPE classes which is the reason I started this blog. The new resolution has to be to do at least one class per week.


My class today was about Reengineering Health Care. What does that mean? In simple terms changing the way we do things related to health care. The three pillars identified were technology, process and people. Technology - Better systems that will enhance the communication process is one example. Process - determining the processes and identifying where improvements are required. People - The human element to bring everything together.


"The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed." That is the definition from the book "Reengineering Health Care" by Jim Champy and Harry Greenspun. Sorry guys, but I like my explanation better.

A study done by the U.S. government estimated that almost 70 percent of health care costs in the United States are attributable to chronic diseases that are largely preventable. Included in that list are diabetes and cancer. According to the American College of Preventative Medicine (ACPM) approximately 4,600 Americans die each day from these preventable diseases.

Fact - the most expensive place to deliver health care is at a hospital!

How can engineering health care be achievable? Suggestions are improving health care delivery; improving the administrative process; wellness programs; medication management; and safety.

An interesting fact noted which resulted from having electronic health care records is that the records belong to the patient and not the doctor!

Speaking of health care - it is time to schedule that annual physical!