Mr. Taylor began the presentation by discussing what is driving an increasing need for orthopedic healthcare services. “Thousands of people are turning 65 on a daily basis, which will happen for 19 more years. This is why orthopedic total knee replacements are up 161 percent from the last 20 years,” said Mr. Taylor.
Next, Mr. McNally discussed what Moore Clinic did to become a more efficient orthopedic clinic — it became a “focus factory.”
According to Mr. McNally, a BMW plan in South Carolina follows a “focus factory” philosophy in order to minimize the amount of work-related injuries. At first, the BMW had its workers on rotating shifts — workers would move through various tasks to create three different BMW models. However, when the factory decided to allow the workers to become experts on one model instead of all three, the work injuries and quality inefficiencies decreased, said Mr. McNally. The workers were experts at the model and did not make as many mistakes.
According to Mr. McNally, the Moore Clinic had a similar inefficiency issue when there were 6 physicians and a full team of staff that aided each one. “Our process was creating all these bottlenecks. Nothing was focused,” said Mr. McNally. “We decided to make the clinic a focus factory, where each surgeon is an assembly line with its very own team assisting just that physician and his or her patients. When a patient comes in, it is like a single physician’s office. Each patient got a lot more attention. The process was fast and the efficiency was certainly better,” said Mr. McNally.
According to Mr. McNally, by giving each physician a team that operates independently in the clinic, the following results were seen:
• Quality and volume outcomes were not mixed — quality stood out from volume.
• Worker training and incentives had a clear focus.
• Engineering of processes, equipment and materials handling were specialized as needed.
Since the demand for orthopedic services will be increasing as the “baby boomer” generation ages, orthopedic clinics and surgery centers need to utilize strategies and models that are efficient to meet the needs of their patient population.
More Articles on Orthopedic Issues:
10 Tactics for Managing Orthopedic Technology
Key Issues for Orthopedics, Spine and Pain Management in ASCs
10 Steps to Attract Orthopedic & Spine Surgeons During Recruitment
