activities in the doctor’s office that fall into process time

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Respond to… 

• Identify the activities in the doctor’s office that fall into process time, inspection time, move time, wait time, and storage time.
• List the activities in the doctor’s office that are candidates for non value-added activities. Explain why you classify them as non value-added activities.

According to Schneider (2012), process time is the time where a product or service is going through the modification process and activities from raw materials into completed products (p.503).  In the doctor’s office, the process time can be identified as the time spent with the doctor, nurses, and dietitian; changing the ‘raw’ patient/client into a ‘final’ informed and medicated patient.  Actions that consist of process time are checking in with the receptionist; talking to the doctor; and the discussion with the dietitian. Inspection time is the time spent guaranteeing product/service quality is great (Schneider, 2012, p.504).  For that reason, inspection time is essential to assure a patient/client recovers the appropriate and highest status of care.  In the doctor’s office, inspection time would be the actions done to guarantee the appropriate data or samples were gathered for high quality attention to detail.  Therefore, inspection time actions would involve weighing in; collecting personal data (medicines, insulin dose, and sicknesses); blood sample to test blood sugar; blood pressure check; and the concluding collection of blood samples based on the physician’s orders. Schneider (2012) said that move time is the time used moving an unprocessed, work in progress, or completed work between procedures in a facility (p.504).  In the doctor’s office the move time actions entail moving from the waiting area to the inner station; moving from the inner station to the patient room; and moving from the patient room back to the receptionist waiting room. According to Schneider (2012), wait time is the measure of time a product or service in any condition spends waiting for the next action (p.504).  In the doctor’s office the wait time action includes waiting to be called by the nurse; waiting for the physician to come to the room; and waiting for the dietitian consultation. Lastly, Schneider (2012) claims storage time is the time that a completed product or service is held in stock or waiting to be appropriately taken care of (p.505).  In the doctor’s office, the service would be complete once the patient talks with the dietitian.  Therefore, the only storage time action would be the time the receptionist is being employed to assist the client in paying for the visit and scheduling the next visit. Nonvalue-added actions can be recognized with each action named.  Schneider (2012) said a significance on recognizing actions is to be able to classify nonvalue-added activity and eliminate them (p.503).  The first nonvalue-added activity is move time.  According to Schneider (2012) move time is a nonvalue-added activity, thus making all the move time actions previously mentioned, nonvalue-added activities (p.504).  Furthermore, Sabri & Shaikh (2010), classified nonvalue added activities as having no value to the client and is not necessary to running the business (p.11).  Hence, certain actions could be made more productive with technology in order to generate more value to the client and lower resources required in the doctor’s office for achievement, for example computerizing check-in, paying out, and scheduling next visit.  Another example is a simpler coding scheme eradicating the dialect some staff may grasp better than others.  This example would be useful for the inspection and process times, generating more of a smooth flow between recording data and the physician conference; between the physician’s orders and more tests; and between data and dietitian.  Lastly, Schneider (2012) commented that wait time actions are potentially important nonvalue-added actions (p.504).  Hence, from a personal perspective, wait time is necessary because most doctors have more patients than time in a day.  Therefore, the issue becomes more of a time management issue instead of a nonvalue-added activity.  Placing a time limit per client could help raise efficiency and lower hard to define causes of wait time. Nevertheless, it is hard to conclude whether Dr. Rosenthal is efficient without any given time values.  However, even minus the data, a person can see nonvalue-added actions do exist.  Hence, Dr. Rosenthal should assess the actions of his office and decide which expenses can be eradicated by revising technology, protocol, and practices.

References

Sabri, E., & Shaikh, S.N. (2010).  Lean and agile value chain management:  A guide to the next level of improvement.  Ft. Lauderdale, FL:  J. Ross Publishing Inc.

Schneider , A. (2012).  Managerial accounting:  Decision making for the service and manufacturing sectors.  San Diego, CA:  Bridgepoint Education.

Respond to… 

Dr. Rosenthal is in the service sector and his staff are specialist within their fields that should have a focus on their customers that come to their office to receive the best care the company has to offer. Patients are expected to return and as they do the doctor should monitor his staff to improve the performance of his staff and reduce non value-added activities. This is also referred to as activity analysis. “An emphasis on activities can help identify nonvalue-added costs and eliminate the activities that cause them. Any resource-using activity that does not add value is often called waste. Having value implies that a consumer would be willing to pay for the results of the activity. A key goal of production managers is to eliminate waste and, thereby, to have an efficient and productive operation.” (). Everyday the office will receive customers that will in turn receive a service from the doctor and his staff members. Process time in this situation would be the time when the customer checks in at the receptionist to the time when the customer pays for the office visit. Inspection time would be when the patient is in the inner office with the nurse gathering personal data, blood samples, history since the patients last visit, the doctors conference and the dietitian’s review. Move time would be when the patient checks in, moves to the inner offices, an initial review with the nurse and conferences the patient has with the doctor and dietitian, move time is the process or stages the patient goes through, throughout the visit. Wait time is the time spent that nurses, the doctor and dietitian and patient share during the move time. For example, wait time is taken place while the nurse is with the patient, while the patient is with the doctor and while the dietitian is with the patient. Storage time would be the time the patient spends in the assigned room waiting for each person involved in the process to see them, such as the nurse, doctor and dietitian, including the next visit.

For each item there is non value-added time. During the process time, once the patient checks in collecting personal data should be the first thing the patient does before going into the assigned room. Then once the patient has given the nurse the data, then that information the nurse can update the patient’s medical records, before assigning the patient to a room. Once the patient is moved to the room then the patient can be weighed inside the room the patient is assigned along with the blood pressure test and take a sample. The doctor and dietitian should be briefed on any updates on the patient with no time wasted in between because the doctor and dietitian should be in some cases familiar with the patient before the visit. After the conference the doctor can give orders to the nurse depending on what he or she recommends to the patient while the dietitian is having his conference while presenting a plan and adjusting according to the patients eating habits, meal planning and weight control. Visits by patients will vary but the time spent by each member in Dr. Rosenthal’s team can reduce a great amount of time reducing non-value-added time which makes them more technically proficient, while managing their time and add meaningful productivity to the office.

References

Schneider, A. (2017). Managerial Accounting: Decision making for the service and manufacturing sectors (2nd ed.) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/.