8/12/2019 STM _ Grp4_Sec_B_ThedaCare.....ques one.docx
1/3
8/12/2019 STM _ Grp4_Sec_B_ThedaCare.....ques one.docx
2/3
Question 1:
Evolution of the approach of ThedaCare towards cost reduction and differentiation over time
Thedacare's mission was "to improve the health of the community" and they pursued it by providing
better quality services. Their initiative "Touchpoint" did significant improvements to operations and
thus patient care. IDCOP significantly improved patient and staff satisfaction and also revenues.
Thedacare's strategy was to improve quality of their service and also patient and staff satisfaction.
They strived to achieve a lean system with reduced patient waiting time. They sold Touchpoint in
order to focus on their healthcare business displayed their commitment towards quality and not
only profit. Thedacare Inpatient System was a big achievement for the company, bringing in
significant improvements in account receivables and simplifying patient registration. They wanted toprovide only the best service and that's why divided some departments between the two major
Thedacare hospitals even at the risk of losing patients. Theda care improved customer satisfaction
by reducing the gaps in patient care reducing the time required for appointments and dramatically
reduced lead time in its orthopaedic plus initiative. One point to note is that even after such changes
we can see from exhibit 4 that for similar number of admissions and outpatient visits the expenses
of Theda Clark and AMC are more compared to St Elizabeth's. It can be seen that Thedacare is an
innovative organization which focussed on quality and easing the process for its patients which
resulted in patient satisfaction and thus a better reputation. It reported very high employee
satisfaction and thus is safe to assume was able to attract and retain better physicians which would
have been a big strength for Thedacare.
Question 2:
Root causes of the resistance by the physicians against different improvement projects
ThedaCare had adopted lean process engineering to improve the quality of service provided to
patients and at the same time reducing cost of service. This met with a lot of resistance from the
physicians as they were not sure if ideas adopted from other industries could be implemented in
healthcare. In the pilot project, ThedaCare first taught a select group of physicians the basics of lean
process engineering and allowed them to propagate it to the other physicians. Although the project
improved business and clinical performance, it faced stiff resistance from most of the physicians
working for ThedaCare. They questioned the applicability of techniques generated in the auto
industry (Toyota) in healthcare. Also, the terminologies used in lean process engineering were
unfamiliar to the physicians and so, they had doubts on the relevance of the terms. Some of the
8/12/2019 STM _ Grp4_Sec_B_ThedaCare.....ques one.docx
3/3
physicians might have even found it offensive to take lessons from assembly line workers of the auto
industry.