A framework for production control in health care organizations

Abstract

The paper presents a hierarchical framework for production control of hospitals which deals with the balance between service and eae ciency, at all levels of planning and control. The framework is based on an analysis of the design requirements for hospital production control systems. These design requirements are translated into the control functions at diå erent levels of planning required for hospital production control. The framework consists of ® ve levels of planning and control: patient planning and control, patient group planning and control, resources planning and control, patient volumes planning and control and strategic planning, though this last level does not make part of production control as such. Each of the levels of the framework is further elaborated in terms of the decisions made regarding patient¯ows and resources, and the co-ordination of the diå erent planning levels. Implications of the framework are discussed by describing some points where current practice deviates from assumptions made in our approach. Recommendations for future research and development of the planning framework are formulated.

Modelling home care organisations from an operations management perspective

“…In contrast to the manufacturing sector, where companies can base their organisations on solid standard frameworks (see for example Cutting-Decelle and Michel (2003) and ISO 19439 (2006)), HC providers currently have few guidelines for the design and management of their organisations. The approach presented in this study is quite similar to the approach followed by researchers who studied operations management in a hospital setting (Harvey and Duguay (1988), Vissers et al (2001)). …”

“…The approach is similar to the approach used by Vissers et al (2001) in a hospital setting. The use of enterprise process modelling approaches, such as IDEF0, has also been successfully observed in earlier health sector studies (Rolón et al (2008), Hoffman (1997), Vissers and Beech (2005)) and other industries (Staccini et al (2005), Yusuf and Smith (1996)).…”

Suitability and managerial implications of a Master Surgical Scheduling approach

“…We focus entirely on resource capacity planning and scheduling problems, and discard other managerial areas such as medical planning, material coordination, and financial management. To position the various OR planning and scheduling problems we use the classical hierarchical decomposition of the managerial functions into four levels: strategic, tactical, offline and online operational control (Vissers et al 2001). The remainder of this section subsequently addresses each level.…”

Improving Emergency Department Capacity Efficiency

“…(5,6) Since the new management principles of the 1980s and 90s, the development of healthcare process management has had direct and predictable efficiency effects. (7)(8)(9) Still, after a certain point, the facilities and other resources can't keep up with the pace, and as signs of low capacity efficiency appear, many EDs have either insufficient resources or inefficient ways to use them. (10,11) A lot has already been investigated in terms of resource allocation, process standardization, patient classification and prioritization, queuing discipline, implementation of electronic systems and specific process improvements.…”