In-depth study of ‘decoupling point’ as a reference model: an application for health service supply chain

Abstract

This paper reports the findings from a case study research about in-depth analysis of ‘decoupling point’ as a reference model to address a particular management dilemma. Managers from a health service organisation contacted the researchers to investigate possible causes of a managerial dilemma where managers and clinical professionals were not able to agree on a satisfactory decision. Researchers designed a decoupling point reference model where decision-making was taking place to decide which particular process would be chosen for treatment. Clinical professionals were favouring a particular process because of health benefits to patients, whereas managers were more inclined to support a different process, which seemed to bring better outcomes for the organisation. The decoupling point implied applying a hybrid strategy where lean and agile paradigms coexisted so that particular operational views of these different groups of professionals could be taken into account simultaneously. The current performance management system indicated some limitations in the sense that it did not include relevant knowledge of the processes that the reference model suggested. The paper concluded that reference models have potential to offer benefits if considered as tools of process-driven analysis for service organisations. They could serve to find out about potential conflict between different professional groups, as well as indicating the limitations or weaknesses of other critical aspects of management such as measuring of performance and allocations of resources so that better integration across all facets of the service could be achieved

Transfer prices and innovation in public healthcare: Costing and clinical choices in the NHS

“…Guven‐Uslu et al. () explain in detail the surgical procedures that are provided in similar specialist centres. The flow chart in Figure , taken from their study, shows the steps required to make a decision on which type of surgery to be undertaken.…”

Decoupling thinking in service operations: a case in healthcare delivery system design

“…In alignment with manufacturing decoupling thinking, an emerging stream of research is more explicit in relation to the location of interface of decoupled processes. To improve efficiency and effectiveness, for example, manufacturing decoupling thinking has been applied in a healthcare context where patient flow has been simply thought of as material flow (Towill and Christopher, 2005;Rahimnia and Moghadasian, 2010;Guven-Uslu et al, 2014). Implicit to this is that the customer arrival point is viewed as the CODP to services.…”

“…A careful front-and back-office configuration has deemed to be an important element in developing efficient client-centred healthcare services (Broekhuis et al, 2009);and (3). The recent literature has also explored opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness by separating the patient flow into sub flows (or different patient pipelines) with different specific properties (Towill and Christopher, 2005;Rahimnia and Moghadasian 2010;Guven-Uslu et al;2014). Our illustration and analysis is based on a healthcare-related case published by Rahimnia and Moghadasian (2010), which examines the decoupling of patient services.…”

“…The intention is to provide a more integrative perspective on manufacturing and service operations compared to the recent work on applying manufacturing CODP in the service sector (e.g. Chopra and Lariviere, 2005;Rahimnia and Moghadasian, 2010;Guven-Uslu et al, 2014). This part of the literature has treated service operations as a manufacturing system, e.g.…”

Special Issue – Applications of reference models for supply-chain integration

“…Guven-Uslu et al (2013) suggest that purposefully designed decoupling point as a reference model has a potential to address particular managerial problems. It is built on the concepts of process analysis, performance measurement and flow of services in managing a specialist health centre.…”