There is a reason process management has become an ever more relevant part of running a business in recent years. In healthcare especially, orderly processes carry more weight, because this is a field with strict legal requirements. Book V of the German Social Code, among others, sets out the legal framework for quality assurance. Hospitals, rehabilitation clinics, contracted physicians, care facilities — in every one of them, quality criteria apply beyond the actual care of patients. In a jungle of requirements like that, it is easy to lose the overview. But how exactly do processes help here, and how do they contribute to quality assurance?
Healthcare organizations often take a shortcut and buy ready-made quality management manuals. Those off-the-shelf “packages” are enough for the moment to satisfy the legal requirements, but they don't move an organization forward. This route tends to be chosen where the value of a genuinely lived quality policy isn't understood. The other option is to understand that quality policy and live it — and good process management is the foundation for that.
Countless processes accompany staff and managers in healthcare every day. Between what the law prescribes and what has to be handled in practice there is often only a narrow line, given the sheer number of processes and the additional duty to document. On top of that comes the collaboration and interlocking of many departments and areas: who is responsible for what? How are new employees introduced to the organization, and when do I use which document? To settle these questions, a quality management officer is usually appointed. That person is an expert on processes — but cannot possibly be an expert in every specialist field. So how is the QM officer supposed to build a system for everyone that works in practice?
A clear system for (healthcare) processes
What is needed is a way to create transparency about tasks, procedures and the way the organization is set up. The benefit should lie above all in producing a cross-departmental overview for improving the organization, and in preparing for reviews such as those by the medical service of the health insurers. A process management system offers a way forward here over the long term. A well-run process management system gives healthcare organizations not only better transparency about the tasks in the system; it can also serve as a means of comparison between the processes that actually run and the procedures the law prescribes. Across departments in particular, process management provides a suitable basis for collaboration by mapping existing procedures and the documents or systems in use. That makes a tidy, clear process management system ideal for bringing new staff into the organization as well.
Exactly how an organization fills that system — centrally through the quality or process manager, or collectively by the staff with the quality officer as “system administrator” — is for each healthcare business to decide. What matters most is the overview of the individual departments and of how they work together. Many steps flow into one another and don't work in isolation. The complexity of the processes and the tight-knit legislation call for a systematic approach. Through it, processes can be of lasting use to a healthcare business and improve its quality.
(Editor's note: Eva is an external contact and works in process management in healthcare herself. Many thanks to Eva for the insight into the challenges of her daily work and for her help.)