Results2Match

Ever been sitting in a hospital waiting room, watching how a patient is called up, and he is absent? The time and effort it takes before the receptionist believes the patient will not show up? I have! And now there is solution that solves this for once and for all.

You might think that No Shows are only a problem for the hospital staff. But did you know that only for the Netherlands the yearly cost are estimated to supersede the million EUR 175? That is serious money! Apart from cost there are more disadvantages:

• Annoyed staff.
• Unused expensive medical equipment and lab facilities.
• A severely disturbed operational polyclinic process chain.

Annoyed staff

It is a human characteristic to organize his work. When it gets disturbed by causes he cannot control he gets annoyed. When this happens often, production becomes less and less. This is especially true in an environment that benefits enormously from a steady continuous stream of activities like a (university) hospital polyclinic.

Unused Expensive Medical Equipment and Lab Facilities

A hospital has expensive assets, and many with a relatively short lifetime due to technological innovations. Medical equipment and lab facilities are good examples. This fuels a strong incentive to use day and night, including the weekends. Unexpected and unnecessary interruption is then unwelcome.

A Severely Disturbed Operational Polyclinic Process Chain

A continuous process should flow like a steady river, with little disturbances. Deviations from the average production should be very small. If this condition is violated, the waste of precious resources increases rapidly: A fine subject for a Lean Six Sigma project!

The Usual Solutions

Some hospitals 'solve' the No Show problem by ignoring it, and seeing as a fact of life. But that will not reduce it! Others send an invoice directly to the patient, bypassing the medical insurance company. That may bring in some money as compensation, but it remains an 'after-the-fact' solution, and does not change the patient behavior.

The Results2Match 'No Show' Solution

Results2Match delivers a system solution for this problem with a very sharp Return On Investment (ROI):

1. A dedicated software application.
2. A dedicated improvement of the operational (university) hospital polyclinic process.
3. A short dedicated training of all operational staff.

The patient is called by an automated system to remind him to the appointment due in a couple of days. He gets the possibility to change the appointment. The result is that the number of absent patients is reduced to a small fraction of the original figure.

This No Show solution is also applicable to all other situations where a significant number of persons fail to keep their appointment.

The Results2Match 'No Show' Implementation Approach

We use the standard project management methodology Prince 2, which is based on the worldwide project management best practices.

Our shortened default preview on the table of contents of the project mandate looks like this:

1. Project Definition
   1. Preliminary Analysis
      Execution of a small pathfinder, search for possible roadblocks, and define an adequate solution. Establishing the zero measurement values.
   2. Go / No Go
      The sponsor, or chairman of the Steering Committee, takes the decision to execute the project.
   3. Project Execution
      Execute the project.
2. Quality Expectations
   The zero measurement should be exceeded by the value defined in the business case.
3. Business Case
   The business case stated the expected benefits of the project, in qualitative terms as well as quantitative terms.
4. References
   Who is is involved in the project, and other references.
5. Annexes
   Other relevant information.

We are glad to offer you a proposal that meets your special situation and requirements.

Olga Warffemius and Hans Lodder

This blog is written by Olga Warffemius and Hans Lodder. The authors have an extensive joint experience of more than 40 years with the efficiency improvement of operational processes, both in university hospital health-care (15 years), and other profit and not-for-profit companies.

Olga Warffemius has authored blogs like The Change and Improvement Program 'Enabling New Initiatives': Little Grip, and a Lot Of Trust and My Favorite Change Strategy: Wandering! A selection of Hans Lodder's published blogs on health-care:

1. Health Care Improvement Suggestions
2. Service-line Strategies For Hospitals and Other Service Providers
3. Can Health Care Processes Be Organized In a Future-proof and Flexible Way?

You can reach Olga Warffemius by email. Contact Hans Lodder at Results2Match!