Comp10 unit5a lecture_slides

1. Health Care Workflow Process
Improvement
Process Analysis
Lecture a
This material (Comp 10 Unit 5) was developed by Duke University, funded by the Department of Health and
Human Services, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology under Award
Number IU24OC000024. This material was updated by Normandale Community College, funded under
Award Number 90WT0003.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

2. Process Analysis
Learning Objectives
• Describe the purpose of Process Analysis
• Describe skills and knowledge necessary
for Process Analysis
• Perform a process analysis for a given
clinic scenario
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3. Process Analysis
Topics - Lecture a
• Objectives of Process Analysis
• Relevant concepts for process analysis
• Steps for process analysis
• Starting with process inventory and
diagrams
• For each process, listing
– Variations applicable to the clinic
– Exceptions
• And Reporting findings 3

4. Improving Individual Performance
“You can only
elevate individual
performance by
elevating that of the
entire system.”
- W. Edwards Deming
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5. Definitions
• Definitions:
– Process
– Process Analysis
– Process Improvement
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6. Process
• Series of actions or operations conducing
to an end
• Continuous operation or treatment
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7. Process Analysis
• Understanding process elements and the
relationships between them
• As well as identification of opportunities for
improvement
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8. Process Improvement
• Making changes to a process to make it
better in some way
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9. Process Analysis Skills
• At ease with data and data system
concepts
• At ease with clinical workflow concepts
• Able to communicate such concepts
• Able to identify problem areas
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10. Framework for Process Analysis
• Form an objective picture of the process,
process variations and exceptions
• Translate this information into a list of
Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
functions needed at a clinic
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11. Steps for Process Analysis
• Start with process inventory and diagrams
– Context diagram showing clinic functions
– Flowchart for each process
• For each process, list
– Variations applicable to the clinic
– Exceptions
• Report findings
– Major observations
– EHR functionality necessary to support clinic
functions
– Opportunities for improvement 11

12. Process Inventory
• Identification of main clinic processes
• Analyst works with clinic leadership to
identify high priority processes
• Selected processes are analyzed
– Some can’t be improved
– Some the gain is too small
– Some can be improved, but by means other
than use of health IT
12

13. Practice Functions
Source: Meredith Nahm, PhD
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14. Practice Process List
• Patient check-in
• Patient visit
• Prescriptions
• Assimilating received documentation
• Labs
• Other Diagnostic Tests
• Referral / consult
• Disease Management
• Billing
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15. Process Inventory -2
• List of the main processes used by a
practice
• Specifies common variations and
exceptions
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16. Process Variations and Exceptions
• Variations: processes used by the clinic
• Exceptions: errors or common odd things
that occur during the process
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17. Process Analysis
Summary – Lecture a
• Understand relevant concepts and steps
for process analysis, starting with process
inventory and diagrams
• Understand the concepts of variations and
exceptions for each process listing and
know how to report findings
17

18. Process Analysis
References– Lecture a
References
Analysis. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/
Deming, W. E. (1982). Out of Crisis. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Procedure. (n.d.). In American Society of Quality Glossary. Retrieved from
http://asq.org/glossary/p.html
Process. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/
Images
Slide 4: FDA. (n.d.). W. Edwards Deming. Retrieved, from http://commons.wikimedia.org/
Slide 13: Practice Functions. Nahm, M., Duke University, 2012.
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19. Process Analysis
Lecture a
This material was developed by Duke
University, funded by the Department of
Health and Human Services, Office of the
National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology under Award Number
IU24OC000024. This material was updated
by Normandale Community College, funded
under Award Number 90WT0003.
19