Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

The Continuing Epidemic Of Hepatitis C In The United States: The Case Of West Virginia, David P. Paul Iii, Neha Botre, Maggie Phillips, Jumana Abboud, Alberto Coustasse

Management Faculty Research

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the most significant public health problems currently facing the U.S. If it is left untreated, the likelihood of sustaining a treatment response decreases. While early identification has been identified as a critical focus in trying to obtain better health outcomes, new drug treatments appear quite promising.

Coordination Of Inpatient And Outpatient Care For Neurology Patients Undergoing Epilepsy Monitoring, Sara Schrock, Michelle Beane, Kathryn Cope, Mark Parker, Suneela Nayak, Ruth Hanselman, Stephen Tyzik, Amy Sparks, Brendan Lilley

Operations Transformation

ORGANIZING A SYSTEM TO CONSOLIDATE EPILEPSY REFERRALS TO AN OUTPATIENT NEUROLOGY PRACTICE

An outpatient neurology practice was experiencing delayed or lost referrals for epilepsy monitoring. This delay was leading many patients to suffer unnecessary and unmanaged seizures and, in some cases, frequent trips to the emergency department.

As a result, a team consisting of the neurology practice and neuro-navigators used baseline metrics to demonstrate the current state of the problem and conducted a root cause analysis that outlined several causes. A number of countermeasures were initiated with the goal of decreasing referral misses.

Post the initiation of two KPIs, a …

Mmc Fall With Injury Prevention Project, M. Wiggins, Joanne Chapman, Laurie Wilson, Rhonda Babine, Jennifer Laflamme, Melissa Vanmeter, Erica Weightman, Natalie Talbot, Kristine Hykras, Marie Hodge, Angela Smith

MaineHealth Maine Medical Center

Problem/Impact Statement:

Patients falls with injury remains an elusive problem at MMC. Over the past 8 quarter, (2016 and 2017) MMC has outperformed 3 of the last 8 Quarters of data. The average rate for the past 8 quarters is .57/1000 patient days with the mean benchmark of .54/per 1000 patient days. MH has determined a focus goal for all the MH hospitals to be below .70/MH 100 patient days as a goal for falls with injury. MMC having the largest volume must be below NDNQI mean to drive this change as the .70 is the average of all MH …

Hospital Nurse Burnout: A Continuing Problem, David P. Paul Iii, Lama Bakhamis, Harlan M. Smith Ii, Alberto Coustasse

Management Faculty Research

RNs are a critically important component of the U.S. healthcare system. RN burnout – the feeling of exhaustion from working long hours without rest – is a real concern, having been reported in many hospitals. We examine the background, causes and consequences of burnout among RNs in U.S. hospitals, in order to identify solutions to this problem. Findings indicate that Burnout Syndrome in RNs can be analyzed in terms of four clusters of characteristics: individual, management, organizational, and work. The consequences of burnout include increased RN turnover rates, poor job performance, and threats to patient safety. RN burnout in hospitals …

Macra And Rural Hospitals, Erica Kelley, Rhea Lipscomb, Jennifer Valdez, Alberto Coustasse

Management Faculty Research

The purpose of this research was to study MACRA (Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act) and to determine how its implementation would financially impact rural hospitals. Although the long-term effects of MACRA have not been able to be studied, MACRA has the prospective to negatively impact rural hospitals financially. MACRA has potential risks and benefits for physicians associated with its two reimbursement payment methods. The estimated negative reimbursements and set reductions to hospital reimbursement have supported the idea that physicians and all healthcare organizations need to be aware and prepared for MACRA.

The Opioid Epidemic In West Virginia, Nicholas Bowden, Rachel Merino, Sruthi Katamneni, Alberto Coustasse

Management Faculty Research

The rate of overdose-related to the use of licit and illicit opioids has drastically increased over the last decade in the U.S. The epicenter being West Virginia the highest rates of overdoses accounting for 41.5 deaths for 100,000 people among the 33,091 deaths in 2015. The number of people injecting drugs has increased from 36% in 2005 to 54% in 2015. The total U.S cost of prescription opioid abuse in 2011 has been estimated at $25 billion, and criminal-justice-system costs to $5.1 billion. The reasons for this opioid epidemic incidence in WV have been a combination of sociocultural factors, a …

A Multi-Method Scheduling Framework For Medical Staff, Wael Rashwan, John Fowler, Amr Arisha

Conference Papers

Hospital planning teams are always concerned with optimizing staffing and scheduling decisions in order to improve hospital performance, patient experience, and staff satisfaction. A multi-method approach including data analytics, modeling and simulation, machine learning, and optimization is proposed to provide a framework for smart and applicable solutions for staffing and shift scheduling. Factors regarding patients, staff, and hospitals are considered in the decision. This framework is piloted using the Emergency Department(ED) of a leading university hospital in Dublin. The optimized base staffing patterns and shift schedules actively contributed to solving ED overcrowding problem and reduced the average waiting time for …

An Integrated Lean Supply Chain Framework For U.S. Hospitals, Subhajit Chakraborty, Jorge A. Gonzalez

Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

We apply a lean supply chain framework to the healthcare industry in the U.S., drawing support from lean systems philosophy. We conceptualize a view of the U.S. healthcare ecosystem that places a hospital and its admitted patients at the center and describes how all entities inside and outside the hospital work can implement lean principles to improve patients' quality care. This application depicts how a holistic consideration of hospital resources available in both the internal and external supply chain would increase the optimal use of such resources and ultimately serve patients. We offer propositions suggesting that an integrated supply chain …

The Impact Of Big Data On Chronic Disease Management, Niharika Bhardwaj, Bezawit Wadajo, Anthony Spano, Alberto Coustasse

Management Faculty Research

Introduction: Population health management – and specifically chronic disease management – depend on the ability of providers to identify patients at high risk of developing costly and harmful conditions such as diabetes, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease (CKD). The advent of big data analytics could help identify high-risk patients which is really beneficial to healthcare practitioners and patients to make informed decisions in a timelier manner with much more evidence in hand. It would allow doctors to extend effective treatment but also reduces the costs of extending improved care to patients.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to …

Informing Quality In Emergency Care: Understanding Patient Experiences, Esmat Swallmeh, Vivienne Byers, Amr Arisha

Articles

Purpose: Assessing performance and quality in healthcare organisations is moving from focussing solely on clinical care measurement to considering the patient experience as critical. Much patient experience research is quantitative and survey based. The purpose of this paper is to report a qualitative study gathering in-depth data in an emergency department (ED).

Design/methodology/approach: The authors used empirical data from seven focus groups to understand patient experience as participants progressed through a major teaching hospital in an Ireland ED. A convenience sampling technique was used, and 42 participants were invited to share their perceptions and outline key factors affecting their journey. …