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A Roadmap for Change Management Projects
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By Suvas Vajracharya, Ph.D.
Imagine if the right doctor, saw the right patient, at the right time, for the right amount of time, in the right place. It seems simple enough. But it is far, far (light years) away from how our medical system works today.
Why does it work this way for us as patients?
Why does it work this way for physicians?
This is bad. Who does this process actually benefit? It’s not what patients want or need. It’s not what physicians want or need. It’s wasting everyone’s time. And wasting data that we already have in our healthcare system that could make this all run more smoothly.
Instead, imagine this:
That’s better for you as a patient, isn’t it? No hassle of finding the right doctor and facility. Your medical information is used to make smart recommendations. That’s better for you as a doctor, too. Dr. Smith gets the right amount of time needed to meet with you, with the data that she’ll need to talk to you about your care. She is practicing at the top of her license, using her interest in thyroid conditions to deliver better care to you.
How about on the inpatient side?
For the hospitalist, you are satisfied that you were able to provide quality care and that, on completion of your stretch of shifts, you began your scheduled time-off you had requested to attend a wedding. Your schedule didn’t require you to work shift patterns that were counter to your circadian rhythm.
That’s also better for you as a patient. You’re seeing the same doctor every day. They’re watching you for changes that signal something is going wrong. For the hospitalist, you’re working a shorter shift, being matched to patients based on their predicted stay. You might work shorter or longer hours based on what the patient needs, but you’re having a positive impact on their care. You have time smartly built into your schedule to review patient results and prepare for discharge.
“Physician Intelligence” technology makes these dream scenarios very real. Using AI and combinatorial optimization, health leaders can set smart schedules for physicians and patients based on the match between these complicated factors such as urgency, location, expertise, and care team. In the same way that Lyft instantly matches your request with the right driver, in the right kind of car, and calculates a route taking into account real-time traffic conditions, complexity is an advantage here.
Physician Intelligence isn’t a pipedream. This kind of smart scheduling, matching patients with physicians, is in use today at large and small healthcare systems across the country. It directly impacts the bottom lines in healthcare; reducing costly physician burnout and turnover (which Stanford estimates at $7.75M a year), reducing wait times, increasing patient access to care and improving patient outcomes. When healthcare focuses on the human impact and considers time as a key metric — everyone benefits.
Original article appeared on Becker’s Hospital Review.