21 Mar ABC Medical Center, in partnership with Interfaith Healthcare Ministries, is opening a free clinic to help provide primary care s

Each question one page and two references

Q1

ABC Medical Center, in partnership with Interfaith Healthcare Ministries, is opening a free clinic to help provide primary care services and chronic disease management services for the uninsured and alleviate some of the strain on the hospital's emergency room. The initial proposal for the facility layout is based on a similar clinic operating in Lynchburg, Virginia. However, an operations analyst at the Roanoke Medical Center has proposed an alternative layout that is believed to provide efficiency savings over the initial proposal. While the clinic is not yet operational, deposits have already been placed with contractors to implement the initial layout. As a result, switching room the locations will cost $8,000 each, with the exception of the dental and vision care areas, which will cost $15,000 to move.

Based on the above scenario, which option would you select? Why? Use the figures above and the reading to support your analysis.

Q2

In a routine clinical process at an outpatient clinic, observed times in minutes were 84, 76, 80, 84, and 76. One observed employee was working 25 percent faster than the average worker.

Do you think the time spent in the outpatient clinic, without including the exam time, is reasonable? If not, what improvements would you recommend? What data might you gather to determine why this particular employee is working faster?

Q3

A Pediatrics Department became concerned about low morale and productivity of nursing staff after the chair of its General Pediatrics division left the organization due to retirement. After a nine-month search, the Pediatrics Department was able to hire a specialized pediatrician chair for the General Pediatrics division and would like to evaluate the effect of the new leadership on productivity.

Will the new leadership, in the short-term, have an expected positive or negative influence on morale and productivity? Explain. What three metrics would you select to determine the effectiveness of the new leadership?

Q4

A practice would like to allocate its resources optimally between the orthopedic and rheumatology departments. The revenues per case generated by orthopedics is $2,000 and rheumatology is $1,000.

How would you determine the best way to allocate a budget of $1,000,000? What questions or additional information might you ask/seek from the department managers that will help you to allocate this budget?

Q5

A health plan is required by its contract with the Department of Medical Assistance Services to provide transportation for its members to and from all covered medical appointments and services. However, a number of transportation trips scheduled by health plan employees end in members not being picked up and delivered in time for their scheduled appointments as originally planned, which are defined as “interrupted trips.”

How can the facility reduce the number of interrupted trips? What impact could the interrupted trip have on the perceived quality of care?

Q6

One physician on duty full-time works in a hospital emergency room. Previous experience has shown that emergency patients arrive according to a Poisson distribution with an average rate of four per hour. The physician can provide emergency treatment for approximately six patients per hour.

At what point does the emergency room have more patients than can be seen by the physician? What can be done to minimize the wait of the patients who arrive at the emergency room?

Q7

A health plan is required by its contract with the Department of Medical Assistance Services to provide transportation for its members to and from all covered medical appointments and services. However, a number of transportation trips scheduled by health plan employees end in members not being picked up and delivered in time for their scheduled appointments as originally planned, which are defined as “interrupted trips.”

How can the facility reduce the number of interrupted trips? What impact could the interrupted trip have on the perceived quality of care?