“Operating systems have a huge impact on work climate, staffing, financial results, etc., and yet we are trying to change our health care delivery system without changing its core operations. We are trying to achieve the results we want just by changing the reimbursement system, by asking different parties to collaborate, etc.
Imagine, for example, that the Ford Motor Company found that their cars could not compete in the market. They probably would do something about the engine, transmission, product lines, etc., whatever they could do with their cars in order to compete with other manufacturers. In contrast, when our health care "car" does not work, we try to throw more money at the system and demand additional resources.
The cost of health care delivery is inflated because we do not appropriately apply operations management methodologies. And yet we limit the price, so the quality of care is being negatively impacted. Somehow we manage to have both — waste and unsatisfactory quality of care. As long as our total cost, which is clinical cost plus delivery cost, is being limited, and as long as we do not actively employ operations management methods, we will experience this unfortunate scenario.”
— Eugene Litvak, PhD, Professor of Health Care and Operations Management and Director of the Program for Management of Variability in Health Care Delivery, Boston University Health Policy Institute
