Key Hospital Processes from a Patients Perspective

"Your workplace and the processes that occur there may be so familiar to you that to talk about "discovering" them may appear superfluous. But making improvements involves seeing your processes in a new way, detached from familiar assumptions.

To see a process in a new way, in a way relevant to improving it, you need to look at it through the eyes of the customer. The customer's perspective of a process invariably illuminates its whys and whats.

Processes can be defined from a variety of perspectives. Often, no two people will agree on exactly what constitutes a process even when they both are involved in it. But when everyone takes the customer's point of view, everyone looks at the process in the same way and in a way that is relevant to the organization's success. Thus, the customer's perspective provides a single, objective perspective that everyone can use and that works for all the organization's processes."

The following list of key hospital processes have been defined by client hospitals and healthcare providers in their efforts to improve the quality of delivered services from a patient's perspective.

Typical List of Hospital Key Processes From a Patient Perspective

Key Process	Improvement Priority High/Medium/Low
Provide and Manage Inpatient Care
Admit/Place Inpatients (Direct/Prescheduled) Prescheduled)
Admit/Place ED Inpatients
Discharge Patients
Manage Inpatient Care: Medical/Surgical Care
Manage Inpatient Care: Intensive/Critical Care
Manage Inpatient Care: Perinatal/Obstetrical Care
Manage Inpatient Care: Psychiatric Care
Manage Inpatient Care: Rehabilitation/SNF Care
Manage Patient Medical Information
Provide And Manage Standards for Care
Provide Diagnostic Support (e.g., X-ray) lab)
Provide Hotel Services
Provide Inpatient Scheduling
Provide Surgical Support
Provide Therapeutic Support (e.g., drug/RX) respiratory)
Provide and Manage Ambulatory Care
Provide Home Health Care
Provide Same Day Noninvasive Diagnostic Services
Provide Outpatient Rehabilitative/Therapeutic Care
Provide and Manage Clinic Care
Provide Same Day Surgery Procedure Services
Provide and Manage Emergency/Urgent Care
Manage Customer Complaints
Manage Patient Complaints
Manage Physician Complaints
Improve Revenue Cycle Processes
Provide Community Health Services/Education
Provide Information on Service Availability and Cost
Provide Support Processes
Evaluate and Improve Performance
Ensure Compliance with Regulatory Requirements
Manage Payer Contracts and Relations
Manage Risk and Safety
Manage Human Resources
Manage Information Systems
Obtain and Manage Supplies/Facilities/Equipment
Plan the Future

Processes From a Patient Perspective

Typical List of Hospital Key Processes From a Patient Perspective

Key Process

Improvement Priority

High/Medium/Low

Provide and Manage Inpatient Care

Provide and Manage Ambulatory Care

Provide and Manage Emergency/Urgent Care

Manage Customer Complaints

Improve Revenue Cycle Processes

Provide Community Health Services/Education

Provide Information on Service Availability and Cost

Provide Support Processes