I didn’t expect to experience déjà vu while going in to receive my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. My appointment took me to the largest vaccination site in the southern end of the county. I can’t think of a better location to administer vaccines en masse—it’s right off the freeway, on Main Street’s west edge in the […]
What’s the longest you’ve ever waited to see a doctor? Hopefully, your answer won’t make us shake our heads and whistle in disbelief. This question has been asked and answered on Quora, Reddit, and across social media to varying degrees of hilarity and horror. Search “making sandwich in waiting room” on Twitter, and you’ll get […]
“Phase 1 cancer studies, which guide dose selection for subsequent studies, are almost 3 times more prevalent than phase 3 studies and have a median study duration considerably longer than 2 years, which constitutes a major component of drug development time.” It takes a long, long time for new cancer treatments to get through the […]
In an article in the Birmingham Medical News, Deborah Flint, director of Performance Engineering at the Kirklin Clinic of UAB Hospital, explained the role that simulation plays in improving patient flow at her facility: “The computer simulation helps evaluate different scenarios we may have identified using Lean Six Sigma. It helps us validate whether a […]
Did you know that you can get some quick wins with healthcare systems simulation? It’s called Exploratory Simulation, and it’s a great way to understand what’s going on right now as well as explore the impact of future change. What kind of change? How about changes in process, changes in allocated resources, and changes in […]
How student teams gained valuable experience by helping a major outpatient clinic better serve patients Not too long ago, we had the privilege of congratulating and speaking with a trio of students from Louisiana State University. Their “Geaux FlexSim” team are past winners of the SHS/FlexSim student competition. More on that in a minute. Since […]
Award-winning health systems find a balance between efficiency and effectiveness Each year since 1993, Truven Health Analytics has investigated thousands of U.S. hospitals for their 100 Top Hospitals® report. The study is well-regarded on social media, it’s been cited in many publications—and my local hospital seems proud enough to be included that they displayed a […]
George Gonzalez-Rivas (Co-Founder, Newmodel Consulting) The great Maimonides famously said that a Doctor should treat the patient, not the disease. But what happens when the real patient is the healthcare process itself, and the cause cannot be traced to trauma or disease or aging? The healthcare community is constantly developing expensive new drugs, fantastic machines, […]
Lou Keller (Lt. Col., U.S. Army Medical Service Corps, Ret.) I was going to write about “distributive healthcare” after a recent HSPI Conference, but got sidetracked by more urgent business. So, although I’m a little late, here are my thoughts! The first day of the conference, I was asked to meet with two members of […]
Lou Keller (Lt. Col., U.S. Army Medical Service Corps, Ret.) Early this week, I was cajoled into reading a study by Booz Allen Hamilton that revealed three important trends in how American consumers feel about healthcare. Know what it revealed? First, that the future of healthcare is uncertain. Second, that cost control is paramount. And […]
Lou Keller (Lt. Col., U.S. Army Medical Service Corps, Ret.) I keep a registry of “buzz words” and their definitions on my laptop, mostly for my own protection. It’s so I don’t look ignorant if one pops up in an email from some colleague asking for my opinion of the latest process improvement technique or […]
Lou Keller (Lt. Col., U.S. Army Medical Service Corps, Ret.) This morning I had the occasion to read a new piece of legislation, titled “The ACO Improvement Act of 2014,” that was introduced barely two weeks ago. I like new stuff, especially new legislation designed to improve old legislation. Seems like there’s been more of […]