What's A Process?

Are you or your employees doing the same thing over and over again? If you’re running

a business, that’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s an unavoidable part of running any

business. Consider the following common, repetitive tasks nearly any small healthcare

business must perform: invoicing and claims; payroll; purchasing supplies; scheduling

for employees and patients; new employee training. You will likely be doing these tasks

many times every year. One key to becoming a successful small business is to have

standard methods for doing these repetitive tasks. This is called a process. Well-

documented, standardized processes improve productivity by 20–30%.

Process standardization, robotic as it may feel, is a powerful tool for operational

excellence. Without it, we face daily risks such as redundant or duplicated tasks,

miscommunication between teams, missed steps, incomplete work, items falling

through the cracks, increased stress of staff and preventable delays.

The first step to standardization starts with mapping the process from beginning to end.

This means documenting every single step, hand-off, task, approval, transfer, pick-up,

drop-off, lock, and signature.  For example, in the Patient Admission process, the start

point may be receiving a referral. For Meal Delivery it may be when mealtimes are

scheduled.

Questions to answer when documenting a process step: What people, information or

other resources are needed for the step? Who is responsible? What are the results of

the step? Does anyone need to be notified? What assumptions are being made?

The documentation process may be uncomfortable at first as redundancies become

obvious and inefficiencies surface. However, solutions to long-existing challenges will

become apparent. That's the point - clarity is what drives improvement. Mapping the

process clarifies roles, makes workflows teachable and repeatable, reduces

documentation errors, and prevents missed tasks and delays.

Once you have a handle on how the particular process works, improvement becomes

possible. These are key questions to ask:

•  Can a particular step be eliminated?

•  Is the step really necessary? Can it be simplified?

•  Can the step be automated?