Chapter 17, Problem 5CQD

Summary Introduction

Interpretation:Trade-off between speed and quality by reducing waste and costs using lean principles is to be explained along with reasons.

Case Summary:

C.M.A is a large health care system which includes hospitals, satellite centers and outpatient clinics. Here the data was unorganized which led to various delays in patient treatment. Moreover, various appointments were to be made by patients before going to an authorized doctor. It made all the process very troublesome. Moreover, if doctor needs to retrieve data for any patients, it might take several hours, days or even weeks to get previous medical history of patient. But C.M.A introduced a system where all the data got stores in 7000 computer terminals. It almost takes 2 minutes to retrieve data from previous sources. Although C.M.A had to spend certain amount of dollars but system now could connect to suppliers, outside labs, and pharmacies.