November 18, 2008

Consumers Want Faster, More-Efficient Care

Wayne Glowac

Quality, effective healthcare doesn’t have to be slow – take a look at this clinic on the east coast. It’s a drive-in flu shot clinic. Patients can simply drive up and roll down their window to get their free flu shot for the winter. Both patients and providers like the setup because it is saving them time and money; physicians have less patients to see for flu shots, and patients don’t have to wait as long.

It’s another example of more traditional business practices being applied to the healthcare system – and working. For years the industry believed it could function independently of consumer-driven business strategies, but clinics like this one are evidence that change is happening.

And it’s as much of a change in mind-set as it is in actual practice. The providers who are applying business best practice models understand that they need to be innovative to survive. And, like the drive-up flu shot clinic, innovation doesn’t have to be costly or time consuming.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1858892,00.html

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