Cincinnati Children Medical Care Center Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Cincinnati Children Medical Care Center Case Study Solution

Introduction

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is a pediatric academic medical center established in 1883. The organization has many divisions that have been working under different directors, and each division has own research unit, clinical care, and education programs as well. Since, the aim of the hospital was also same as the divisions such as Research, Education, and patients care in increasing complexities in the hospital management, and communication system as well.

However, the vision of the hospital had been changed by the management to only providing quality healthcare to the patients, and achieving excellency in the hospital’s delivery system. Furthermore, the organization has started many projects initiatives that looked at the quality care by increasing the healthcare processes and building a secure communication between the hospitals’ divisions that emphasized on cross-departmental communication.

Indeed, it was necessary for the hospital management to improve the hospital’s system by imposing quality processes and procedures aimed at contributing to less hospitalization of the patients. Consequently, the patient could enter the hospital through different routes either by the emergency to the other care unit, or the out-patient process to a healthcare unit. Meanwhile, it was complicated for the whole system to manage the patients having a disease that was unknown still, and the whole system was broken.

Indeed, the Dr. Uma Kotagal had made efforts to bring the hospital management system towards more reliability by increasing number of patients, and reducing hospitalization, and focusing on the evidence based and research based treatments, and discovering the new therapies for the diseases that were unknown rather than practicing on the historical data and unproven methods of the treatment. However, the focus of the Dr. Kotagal was overall delivery system improvement through the improving healthcare system.

Problem Statement

How could Dr. Kotagal improve the hospital’s delivery system while focusing on the quality healthcare? How could Kotagal handle the situation of either centralization or decentralization, and research-based practices or the traditional based unproven treatments?

Analysis

Question 1: what was the problem?

The Cincinnati Hospital, Medical care center, has three aims one research, second education of the new physicians, and third the patients care with research and teaching. However, later the management changed the vision of the hospital to become the leader in improving the health of the children. Therefore, the aim of the organization become the patient's care rather than anything. But, the vision itself emphasizes over the three aims that it has.

However, the hospital was using the past practices for the treatments of the patients that might have been reducing the healthcare of the patients. Similarly, the patients visit also increased the rate of hospitalization would have increased. Since the treatment that hospital was providing were not research-based treatment and was historical and unproven methods. On the other hand, the hospital has do not have a centralized system that could connect each division with each other.

Meanwhile, each division has different directors that led the divisions, but there was no cross communication between the departments. Because, a patient could enter the hospital through various routes, from emergency, and to special health care unit, and then to the medical unit for the hospitalization. But, it is not an end. Indeed, the patient was diagnosed by the various physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and therapists as well.

Furthermore, the system has been very complicated to understand since the Hospital has a mixed system of managing the patients care, however, the problem was that a patient’s care process could change anytime. Because, there was no care coordination across the hospital’s care units, and professionals as well.Meanwhile, there were many caregivers that diagnosed the patients, and even multiple patients at the same time.

Indeed, the hospital was incorporating three core problems, one that hospital has been using historical practices and unproven methods rather than research based treatment, second that hospital lacks in the coordination and broken system that undermined the talent of the physicians and third lack of communication across the various division of the hospital. Meanwhile, these three problems were contributing to the less quality of the services, and patient’s healthcare.

Question 2: What did they do?

Process Improvement

Process Improvement has been initiated in the hospital to increase the care of the patients through the focusing on the evidence-based medicine practices rather than the historical practices that were not proven methods in the medical. Meanwhile, the Dr. Kotagal along with other clinical physicians started process improvement initiative that aimed at discovering the new treatments through the evidence-based research, since it was understood that current best practices might not always useful for the current patients.

Similarly, they provided guidelines to the different physician's clinicians, and nurses for the improving the healthcare in the organization. Whereas, she also emphasized improving quality and safety and developed guidelines for the 11 patient’s conditions.However, these guidelines were developed through evidence-based research. Consequently, the rate of hospitalization dramatically reduced, and primary patient’s healthcare quality also increased along with it.

On the other hand, the Dr. Kotagal did not stop there, but she went on investigating the other patient’s conditions that could be improved and diagnosed through the evidence-based approach. Therefore, she encountered that liver transplantation practices were not scientifically proven. Therefore, a strategic plan that could address all problems were initiated that incorporated systematic approaches to the quality, service, process and performance improvement.

Pursuing perfection

The chairman of the board Lee Carter described his vision as “We will be best at getting better.” However, to getting better starting initiatives was very important for the hospital management to acquire its vision.Similarly the Kotagal started two projects one developing and implementing treatment protocols with the proven efficacy, and second on the Cystic Fibrosis (CF), and gathered data from the other top hospitals, and met with those hospital’s management to understand the processes that have improved the healthcare for the CF patients, and management and parents of children worked together to increase the treatment outcomes.

Cincinnati Children Medical Care Center Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

 

 

On the other, in the pursuance of the perfection, the Kotagal worked with the clinician leaders rather than divisions directors for the continuous improvement process in the organization. Meanwhile, the hospital also hired 16 quality improvement consultants, and several analysts those have experience in implementing the change. Meanwhile, the quality improvement team worked on coordinating the information flow among the divisions, implementing change, tracking measurements and then communicating the results.........................

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