All businesses and enterprises have operations management. Healthcare is no exception.
Healthcare operations entails overseeing a network of interconnected procedures and systems
that work together to achieve a common goal (Langabeer II & Helton, 2016). All of the
interconnected processes in healthcare operations management revolve upon diagnosis,
treatment, payments, and administrative functions in healthcare institutions (Langabeer II &
Helton, 2016). Supporting systems and processes that translate resources into healthcare services
are referred to as healthcare operations management (Langabeer II & Helton, 2016). The
manager will focus on workflow, physical layouts, capacity, design, personnel levels, physical
network optimization, productivity management, logistics, quality, and process engineering to
make these things happen (Langabeer II & Helton, 2016).
Managers of healthcare operations have a number of critical objectives that they strive to
meet and improve on a regular basis. The operations manager's five key objectives are to cut
costs, reduce variability, and enhance logistics, increase productivity, improve customer service
quality, and continuously improve business processes (Langabeer II & Helton, 2016). An
operation manager's principal responsibility is to cut costs. The company's overall success will be
aided by reducing unnecessary costs and increasing utilization.
Cost-cutting cannot be achieved without considering the big picture. Managers of
operations will continue to search for more efficient and optimal ways to transport physical
resources and information (Langabeer II & Helton, 2016). Staffing and resources should be
proportional to patient volumes and workload, so that as the number of patients grows, so should
the number of resources (Langabeer II & Helton, 2016). Despite the importance of cost and
efficiency, healthcare operations managers must maintain quality of care and improve customer
service (Langabeer II & Helton, 2016). It is critical that healthcare organizations find a means to
strike a balance between the two. In the field of healthcare operations management, new trends
are always being examined. Each important function in operation management is related with a
number of trends. Making everything uniform is one of the most common ways to cut healthcare
expenditures (Langabeer II & Helton, 2016). Although standardizing everything saves money, it
isn't always the ideal approach because not all therapies should be identical for every patient.
Outsourcing is another key trend in healthcare operations management.
When an operations team engages an outside firm to provide tasks that were previously
controlled internally, this is known as outsourcing (Langabeer II & Helton, 2016). Outsourcing is
designed to relieve current employees of part of their responsibilities so they can focus on other
things. As medical technology progresses and patient expectations rise, healthcare institutions are
experiencing issues. Measurement of performance in healthcare settings is a difficulty for
operations management (Elg, Klara, & Kollberg, 2013). An operations manager should not only
select, define, and design performance metrics, but also learn how to use them in a healthcare
setting (Elg, Klara, & Kollberg, 2013).
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more
significant than yourselves,” says Philippians 2:3. (English Standard Version). Managers of
healthcare operations should seek to prioritize patients before their own interests. To be a
successful hospital, you must provide excellent patient care and customer service.
References
Elg, M., Klara, P. B., & Kollberg, B. (2013). Performance measurement to drive
improvements in healthcare practice. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management, 33(11), 1623-1651. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?
url=https://search- proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/1462451895?
accountid=12085.
Langabeer II, J. R. & Helton, J. (2016). Health care operations management a systems
perspective, Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2nd edition, Burlington, MA.
The Bible. English Standard Version.
