Improving Processes in Health care

           This week's reading took us on a little journey around Supply Chain Networks. How various industries are building and utilizing their networks in order to ensure their products are readily available. As I read these articles, I found it reminiscent of how hospitals and physicians practices are improving their processes in order to better serve their patients. By creating more distribution centers, manufacturers and retailers are cutting down lag time, the same way hospital and physician practices are improving the delivery of patient care by modifying their system and process in order to ensure proper and fast patient care. As healthcare shifts from fee-for service model to a value based model, hospital are being forced to reevaluate how they provide services to their patients. Hospitals are beginning to employ the used of RFID tags for better process management. Just like manufactures use them to track their goods and improve efficiency and customer service, so to are hospitals using it to monitor check-in and check out procedures as well highlight ways within the system where labor isn't being maximized. An article in the RFID journal highlights how companies are taking advantage of this increase in demand for RFIDs softwares for hospitals. Mainspring Healthcare Offers New Workflow Solution to Go With New Name. With this increase in process flows so as to enable better patient centered care, the plan is to increase the value that individuals receive for their health care. The question that remains is whether these new processes create better efficiencies within the health care industry and will they actually lead to the predicted outcomes projected?