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Care platforms: a basic building block for care delivery
Richard M J Bohmer1, David M Lawrence
1Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. rbohmer@hbs.edu
Health Affairs (Project Hope)
|September 11, 2008
Summary
Operational reform is essential for healthcare. A "care platform" model, organizing work by function instead of specialty, can enhance care quality, reliability, and efficiency in provider organizations.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Management
- Organizational Design
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Current healthcare delivery models face limitations in realizing the potential of new financing and payment systems without operational reform.
- High-performing companies in other complex industries offer insights applicable to healthcare's challenges.
Discussion:
- The proposed "care platform" is an operational framework for diversified provider organizations.
- It reorganizes care production around similar work processes, moving away from traditional organ or specialty-based structures.
- This model integrates standardized and customized care processes, supported by tailored information and business systems.
Key Insights:
- Implementing a care platform can significantly increase the quality, reliability, and efficiency of healthcare delivery.
- This organizational shift necessitates new roles and structures for physicians within healthcare organizations.
- Adapting principles from high-risk, science-based industries offers a novel approach to healthcare operations.
Outlook:
- The care platform model offers a pathway to overcome systemic inefficiencies in healthcare delivery.
- Further research is needed to explore the practical implementation and physician adaptation to this new organizational framework.
- This approach has the potential to redefine healthcare operations and improve patient outcomes.
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