In the article, “ Implementing operations strategy through Lean processes within health care ” Matthias and Brown (2016) seek to examine the extent to which lean concepts are incorporated into operational strategies in the context of healthcare management. The article uses the National Health Service in the United Kingdom to investigate this aspect of hospital management. The authors present research in which the top management of the National Health Service was interviewed in a semi-structured interview that sought to establish the extent to which they understood both lean concepts and operational strategies. They further examined strategic policy documents and healthcare reports of the National Health Service as a way of understanding how strategic management was implemented and how it incorporated lean concepts. The findings indicate that operational strategies and lean concepts have not been effectively implemented within the National Health Service hospitals. Moreover, they have not been fully understood in the context of the National Health Service hospitals and best practices relating to lean management. Moreover, policies and strategies adopted within these hospitals had a bias towards quality care rather than lean management.
Matthias and Brown (2016)’s article is very informative in various aspects. First, it brings out the competing interest between quality care and lean management in healthcare settings. There is an increasing concern towards the improved patient outcome and creating patient-centered care. Therefore, many hospital executives are investing in research and development of healthcare practices that improve the quality of healthcare. Consequently, they tend to demonstrate a bias toward improving quality while disregarding lean management concepts. The findings further demonstrate that National Health Service has not fully incorporated lean management in its management practices as it seeks to enhance the patient experience (Matthias & Brown, 2016). Like the case of the National Health Service, many other healthcare facilities have little understanding of strategic management and ways of incorporating lean management in the management of such facilities.
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Secondly, the article demonstrates a growing need to strike a balance between quality healthcare and lean management. Whereas the quality of healthcare is an important focus in this field, the cost increasingly gaining traction among stakeholders in the sector. For effectiveness to be attained, quality services and affordability must be emphasized. As such, the management of healthcare facilities must consistently focus on finding ways through which cost of healthcare can be reduced. The article brings out the lack of understanding of strategic management and lean concepts among the managers as the missing link in creating a balance between quality of care and the costs (Matthias & Brown, 2016). The incorporation of lean concepts will drastically reduce the cost of providing healthcare without compromising the quality of such care.
Thirdly, the article is instrumental in identifying cultural as well as operational hurdles within healthcare systems to the implementation of lean concepts and the incorporation of strategic management. The current culture in healthcare does not give due regard to the process of reducing cost in healthcare provision. At the micromanagement level, priority is given to the process of healthcare delivery just on quality. Performance appraisal for healthcare providers is primarily concerned with parameters that evaluate the quality of care such as drug regimens and dispensing, patient outcomes, surgeries and compliance with evidence-based care among other parameters of evaluation (Matthias & Brown, 2016). The traditional and cultural approach to healthcare management has largely disregarded the importance of strategic and lean management within healthcare. Therefore, the research presented in this article demonstrated a great need to change the culture in healthcare management and incorporate lean management concepts through evaluation parameters that incorporate aspects of lean management such as costs and affordability.
The research concepts apply to real-life situations and the practice of healthcare management in various ways. First, healthcare managers must now begin to appreciate the fact that lean concepts of management are as important in healthcare as they are in other sectors. The strategy will help health management to change the culture that has been witnessed for a long time within the healthcare system that disregards the importance of lean management while emphasizing on quality. Secondly, the managers of healthcare facilities require training in strategic management as well as concepts of lean management. The findings demonstrate that the management does not understand the concept of strategic management as well as lean management. As such, the terms largely remain as ambiguous concepts when discharging their roles. Therefore, adequate training will not only ensure an understanding of this concept but also ensure the incorporation of such concepts in the overall management of healthcare facilities.
Lastly, there is a need to change the way healthcare facilities are managed while ensuring that a culture receptive to strategic management and lean concepts is adopted. This will involve an expansion in the evaluation and performance appraisal criteria for healthcare providers and managers besides retraining them on the need to adopt such concepts. The change will ensure that lean concepts and overall strategic management are incorporated into the healthcare management system with the view of reducing cost while maintaining a high quality of healthcare.
References
Matthias, O, & Brown, S. (2016). Implementing operations strategy through lean processes within health care: The example of NHS in the UK. International Journal of Operations & Production Management , 36(11):1435-1457. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-04-2015-0194
