Service4Health – Innovative and Process-oriented Diversity Management to Increase Productivity in Hospitals

Background
 

Down to the present day, there is a lack of theoretical and practical concepts to measure, assess, design and particularly increase the productivity of services. For that reason, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) originated a funding initiative in the field of "Service Productivity" embedded in its overriding emphasis on "Innovative Services". Within the scope of this initiative, the BMBF supports various projects concerning the increase of service productivity.
 

Purpose
 

This joint research project aims for developing and testing concepts and measures to increase the productivity in hospitals considering human diversity. In this context, the systematic orientation on processes and process costs gains center stage. In order to assess the productivity the researchers will develop a holistic productivity index, which comprises hard as well as soft key performance indicators.    
 

Methodological Way of Proceeding
 

The project "Service4Health" divides into three milestones:

During milestone 1, the researchers will identify process systems in hospitals and develop a holistic productivity index that comprises hard as well as soft key performance indicators. This index will thus include human factors (e.g. patient and employee satisfaction) and diversities.

In the subsequent phase, the researchers will conduct productivity studies, develop concepts and implement prototypes. Based on levies at cooperation partners of this project, milestone 2 involves an empirical analysis of productivity as well as concept developments. The previously identified process systems and core processes constitute the groundwork for this activity. The resulting prototype shall then be implemented by means of workshops and coaching.

Milestone 3 refers to the areas of validation, transfer, and propagation. During this phase, the issue of validation is central. The priorly implemented prototype will be evaluated and refined. A company-wide implementation of selected instruments shall be achieved. The researchers shall further supervise the entire process in terms of change management and thus contribute to the development of new transfer strategies. The new insights gained during this procedure will eventually be transferred to other organizations in the health care industry.
       

Förderer
 

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) overall funds this project (funding indicator: 01FL10046) with EUR 1,194,035. In total, the available funds for this project sum up to EUR 1,646,362.
 

Publications
 

Andreas J. Reuschl, Prozessorganisation, Kritische Würdigung von Business Reengineering und Geschäftsprozessoptimierung für den Einsatz in Krankenhäusern, Bayreuth Reports on Strategy (BaRoS), No. 5, 2011.

Cornelius P. Tillmann, Ricarda B. Bouncken, Überlegungen und Konzepte eines Produktivitätsindexes für Krankenhäuser, Bayreuth Reports on Strategy (BaRoS), No. 4, 2011.