Comments on: Web Check-In: Lean or Not?

By: GH

GH — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:12:35 +0000

I haven't been to Care Now and generally visit Complete Med Care when I need a quick doctor's visit. They have an online registration form that can be printed out and filled out at home, but you still need to take it in to the office once it's been completed. CareNow's online registration process is a definite plus and I, like others, do not like the potential of spreading germs while in a waiting room. Due to their 'lean' online process, I'll probably consider them for future visits.

By: Mark Graban

Mark Graban — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:40:32 +0000

As much as I love “lean” principles and thinking, we shouldn’t get too hung up on whether it fits definitions of “lean” or not.

Is it better for the patient? Yes. Others are right that the ideal is no waiting, but I’d much rather wait at home than in a waiting room picking up other people’s germs (or spreading mine). I’d just hope the arrival time you’re given is accurate.

I hate filling out forms long hand in an office. Again, I’d much rather fill out a form online (using Google Toolbar auto fill for some data) and not make someone repeat the work (or risk typing something in wrong). In a way, this is bad to offload work to customers, but if the value in return (not waiting in the WR) is worthwhile, then I wouldn’t complain.

Is this good for the MDs? Maybe. They are probably still highly utilized the same way if patients were queued up in the WR. It could be better for the business if less front-desk staff are needed and patient satisfaction is higher.

Ron, glad you pointed this out. If I ever need services like this in the future, I’ll go there instead of the similar place over in Southlake (this other one is closer and I didn’t know it was there).

Is it Lean? Maybe, sort of? In a way, who cares… it sounds better and we shouldn’t let perfect get in the way of better.

By: Cats Blog » Blog Archive » Management Improvement Carnival #57

Cats Blog » Blog Archive » Management Improvement Carnival #57 — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:56:20 +0000

[...] Web Check-In: Lean or Not? by Ron Pereira – “I got to their website and in just a few clicks was booking my wife’s appointment… A few minutes later I was done… About 40 minutes after submitting the form they called for my wife to come in, meaning she got to ‘wait’ in the comfort of our home and not some germ filled waiting room.” [...]

By: M B

M B — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:28:13 +0000

Here is a related article – for Emergency Rooms. There are many comments, as well, pointing out some potential problems with the model.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2009/03/10/mb-virtual-er.html?ref=rss

By: Ron Pereira

Ron Pereira — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:22:43 +0000

Hi Trish, yes, it’s no problem to use any LSS Academy article. I also wrote a whole series on kaizen… which may be beneficial as well.

http://lssacademy.com/2007/07/26/kaizen-rules-%E2%80%93-9-10/

By: Trish

Trish — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:19:16 +0000

I would agree with Brian. But my request is this: May I use this article to kick off a Rapid Improvement Event. To get people thinking lean. For some military people they need a little nudge.

By: Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog » Management Improvement Carnival #57

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:34:23 +0000

By: John Hunter

John Hunter — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:24:57 +0000

I would say lean. Not perfect, but that is one of the concepts lean understands, you need to continually improve. To me this is a move in the right direction. If it prevented further improvement (they were satisfied with, as you point out, a system that has waste but have found a way to reduce the impact on the customer) then the action would not be lean.

But I think in general you will have many improvement that are far from the ideal improvement in practice. I think taking positive steps is good. But I do also think often people accept small improvements when many possible improvements are left undone. Which is a problem.

By: Tom Palmitesta

Tom Palmitesta — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:22:56 +0000

Just today I had to visit the family doctor (my eyes are getting worse for reading too many blogs). Yesterday I entered the local Social Security web page, gave my ID number, saw my family doctor’s schedule, and made an appointment. Total: less than 5 minutes. Today I arrived at 11:30 a.m., but the supposed 6 minutes per patient (yes 6 minutes takt time is what a family doctor is allowed in Spain’s social security) stretched to more than one hour (there was a queue of 4 before me) because one of the patient needed more than half hour. So, I believe that making appointments via internet or phone is OK for the patient, but it is not lean. The medical center should find a way to balance the line by separating patients by degree of attention needed. But can you do that by phone or over the internet? Probably not.

By: Mindo

Mindo — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:03:36 +0000

From your text I can’t really say if it is leaner or not.

There may be some cost savings in duplicate work (you hand-write the form and someone else enters it into their computer), and hopefully some of that goes directly to the patient.

But unless there is data that shows that on averate patients had to wait lesser, I can’t say if it was lean. Sure, waiting at home is a lot better. But just because I got to wait at the executive lounge for a delayed flight does not make the _process_ leaner.