Healthcare organizations collectively waste billions of dollars every year by focusing on the wrong problem to solve. This isn’t unique to healthcare, of course. A recent, must-read article in Harvard Business Review, “Are You Solving the Right Problems” by Thomas Wedell explains how organizations that are good at problem solving often focus on the wrong ones to solve. It’s often human nature.
Healthcare analytics offers a particularly good example. Today, health plans, hospital systems, post-acute care companies and other provider organizations are keenly focused on identifying those patients who are at highest risk of adverse events, such as readmissions and post op complications. They then invest precious resources trying to reduce that risk through home visits, additional pre-op or post-operative care, and so on.
Yet, despite the apparent logic, according to our research, 50% or more of patients identified as high risk cannot be impacted by the interventions provided to reduce that risk.
Yet, despite the apparent logic, according to our research, 50% or more of patients identified as high risk cannot be impacted by the interventions provided to reduce that risk.
On the face of it, this seems like a logical approach to improving care and reducing costs. Yet, despite the apparent logic, according to our research, 50% or more of patients identified as high risk cannot be impacted by the interventions provided to reduce that risk. In some cases, they can’t be impacted at all. Our research is consistent with that conducted by others, including a randomized controlled study of telephone care management and study on nurse-led home-based intervention. In short, a lot of the money spent trying to avoid adverse events is wasted.
https://hbr.org/2017/01/are-you-solving-the-right-problems
HENRY KOTULA 