Page 397 - The Handbook for Quality Management a Complete Guide to Operational Excellence

384 M a n a g e m e n t o f H u m a n R e s o u r c e s R e s o u r c e R e q u i r e m e n t s t o M a n a g e t h e Q u a l i t y F u n c t i o n 385

The following questions have been outlined in an effort to provide a recipe to enable each area of
HealthPartners of Southern Arizona to identify, illustrate, and detail the ser vice requirements and
costs of delivering services and/or products to our customers. Please answer each of the following
questions in as much detail as necessary.
I. Customer/Customer requirements
A. What are the key products or services you provide to your customers?
B. Who are your customers? (Who receives the output of your products or services?)
C. What are your customers’ expectations of the products or services you provide to
them?
D. What attributes of these services or products are most important to your customers
(e.g., timely, comfortable, cost effective)?
E. What measurement techniques do you use to confirm your customers’ requirements?
F. What are the major factors that make your products or services necessary?
II. Structure and processes
A. Create a top-down or detailed flowchart of your key processes. (Key processes are
defined as those processes that deliver services or products directly to your customers.)
B. Identify skill levels required for each step of your process. (E.g., an RN starts an IV or
a Health Records Analyst completes the coding process for the chart.)
1. Identify the number of skill levels required at each step. (Steps may involve more
than one skill level and/or multiples of one skill level.)
2. How much time is required by each skill level to complete each step of the process?
3. What is the average time to complete one cycle of the process? Does an industry
standard time to complete this process exist? How does your process compare to
any industry standards? If there is no comparable standard, how long should this
process take as compared to the actual time required to complete the process?
(Hint: If you were to measure this process assuming there were no delays, bottlenecks,
shortage of resources, etc., how long would it take?)
4. Identify any other resources required to support the entire process (e.g., reusable
equipment, disposable supplies, purchased services).
III. Cost assignment
A. What are the total costs each time the process is completed and the product or
service is delivered? (That is, what are the total costs per unit of service?)
B. What are the cycle time costs for each step of the process?
IV. Process improvements
A. What are the causes, delays or roadblocks in your process that create non–value
added cost?
B. What level of variation and complexity exist in your process? How do you measure the
variation and complexity of your process? (Hint: What does a control chart tell you
about the process variability?)
C. If you could do one or two things to reduce time delays, waste, or complexity, what
would you do?
D. If you were successful in reducing time delays, waste, errors, and complex ity how
would this improve the product or service in the eyes of your customer? (What
improved level of satisfaction would result?)

Figure 20.1 Process for identifying quality resource needs. HealthPartners of Southern
Arizona; Decision Package. Courtesy of HealthPartners of Southern Arizona. Used with
permission.

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