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Coursework, Healthcare, Pages: 8

Assignment 2 Technology Innovation

Assignment 2 Technology Innovation

  1. Innovation Details
  2. Describe your technology innovation, including each of the following four points:
  • name of the innovation
  • two key features of the innovation
  • two relevant functions of the innovation
  • general justification as to why this innovation should be considered
Name of Innovation AI-Assisted Centralized Appointment Scheduling
Key Features The scheduling system maintains responsibility for handling all patient appointments. In this case, technology is used to minimize apparent human errors, biases, and possible inefficiencies accustomed to fatigue and other intrapersonal factors.
Relevant Functions Artificial intelligence is used to scan the systems and inform various functionalities such as the number of patients expected, the nature of complaints, and caregiver availability at any given shift.
Statement of Justification The tool will manage all patient appointments, appointment cancellations, and rescheduling through a single point. In this case, the tool acts as a scheduler, analyzing patient visitations, allocating patients to caregivers, and providing feedback to the patient to eliminate waiting at the point of care.

(Optional) Add images or sketches:

  1. Explain whether your proposed technology innovation is disruptive or sustaining.
Type of Innovation The innovation is disruptive. It involves the creation of newer technologies and services. In this case, a centralized scheduling system must be designed and integrated within the healthcare facility. Likewise, the AI component will have to be added to enhance its effectiveness in addressing the presenting problem. The program must also be tailored to the organizational operationalization framework to allow it to inform functions such as patient monitoring.

 

  1. Innovation Analysis
  2. Analyze your technology innovation using two factors from Herzlinger’s six-factor analysis to determine the likelihood of the success of your proposed innovation.
Factor Outcomes
Consumer The domain of consumer under Herzlinger’s six-factor analysis entails understanding what the consumer needs and wants. Long wait times have been identified as a causal factor for poor patient satisfaction. Consumers, in this case, need an effective system where they do not have to wait longer for medical assistance. The innovation seeks to address the problem of long wait times within the care facility by streamlining operationalizations and improving work efficiency. It is likely to succeed, as it is tailored toward addressing the patients’ need for a highly efficient and effective care system. By lowering patient waiting times and informing patients on when they will be seen by a provider, the innovation ensures each patient only presents themselves at the point of care when the caregivers are ready to see them.
Technological feasibility The domain refers to whether the technology required to solve the presenting healthcare problem is reliable and available. Digitized centralized appointment scheduling exists in the modern healthcare landscape. These technologies have been utilized to streamline workflows within the care environment and enhance the operational efficiency of care services (Ala & Chen, 2022). In the recent technological landscape, artificial intelligence and machine learning have increasingly been used, with many AI solutions finding space in healthcare. Contextually, AI has been used to facilitate healthcare communications, offer scheduled reminders to providers, and tailor health tips to patients. The proposed innovation is likely to succeed as it leverages these technologies.

 

  1. Complete an impact assessment of your technology innovation based on the Impact Assessment Framework (IAF) by doing the following:
  2. Discuss two potential outcomes from the Strategy and Finance dimension that should be monitored.
  3. Choose one additional dimension and discuss one potential outcome of your technology innovation, and how the potential outcome is related to the chosen dimension.
Dimension Outcomes
Strategy The strategy dimension interrogates the goals, the progress of the project in meeting its goals, the results, key performance indicators, and the strategic focus areas. The strategy used in the project should be able to guarantee economic and financial returns for the organization. The potential outcomes in the strategy dimensions that will be monitored are the project goals and progress.

The project goals will be monitored to ascertain their scope, clarity, and timeline. In this case, the project is seeking to reduce patient wait times. Before implementing the project, the goals will be defined. The project will be monitored for its clarity and scope, as well as timeliness. This will help define a working framework for the project. It will also help the organization maintain focus, ensure judicious use of the available resources, and increase the chances of success of the project.

The progress of the project will also be measured periodically against its stated goals. Measuring progress regularly will help the organization determine whether the budgetary allocations for the project will be sufficient for the project. Likewise, it may inform apparent adjustments necessary for the project to meet its timelines.
Finance The finance dimension highlights the potential sources of financing the project, whether the sources are appropriate, and how the innovation is reimbursed. The innovation will be financed by the hospital administrators. Funds will be reimbursed upon a formal application to the finance department. The hospital has a dedicated fund kitty to support meaningful development within the hospital. The project seeks to leverage these funds to meet its objectives of addressing operational inefficiencies within the organization.

The potential outcomes in the finance dimension that will be monitored are return on investment and equity. Return on investment measures the profitability of the project. In this case, the project will be assessed against the funds used to deliver it to ascertain whether funds are lost or gained. The project will be said to have a return on investment benefits outweigh its cost.

Return on equity assesses the company’s financial performance upon implementing a project. In this case, the organization’s financial records will be monitored to ascertain whether the financial performance is variable after implementing the project. Reduction in wait times is expected to improve patient satisfaction and the volume of patients encountered within the facility. This is expected to translate into monetary gains and optimal financial performance for the organizations.
Additional dimension: Structure The structure includes all the stakeholders involved in the project and how they influence the outcomes and implementation. In this case, the project draws multiple stakeholders, including patients and healthcare providers. The impact of the proposal on the organizational structure will be monitored by measuring the cost of the project and its access to caregivers and patients.

The cost of the project may provide insight into the efficiency of the structure. Where the projects’ uptake is high among the stakeholders, the organization spends less on mobilizing stakeholders and training them on using the technology. Conversely, the cost is likely to increase where the uptake of the technology is low, as the organizations will spend more on educating stakeholders on its use.

Measuring access to the technology to healthcare providers and patients may also provide insight into the efficiency and acceptability of the technology. Stakeholders are likely to adopt the technology if they see value in it. Additionally, there are significant economic savings from highly acceptable and adaptable health technologies (Nilsen et al., 2020).

 

  1. Comparative Assessments
  2. Identify one existing technology that is similar to the proposed solution from prompt A1.
  3. Describe the strengths of the existing technology in addressing the problem presented in the scenario.
  4. Describe the limitations of the existing technology in addressing the problem presented in the scenario.
Existing Technology Centralized Scheduling Systems

Centralized scheduling systems are highly adaptable health technologies utilized in diverse settings to facilitate the handling of medical appointments. These technologies can be integrated into electronic medical records to streamline workflows within care facilities and improve communication between caregivers and patients (Marshall et al., 2022).
Strengths Improves communications: The system allows everyone involved to have access to patient visitation times, minimizing the need for administrators to reach out to patients via phone calls to confirm their visitations. The systems also facilitate care coordination among providers by providing information on various patient inquiries.

Streamlining workflows: Centralized scheduling systems allow all patient appointment processes to be handled from a focal point. It improves administrative workflows by eliminating manual appointments, automating patient appointments and cancellations, and improving visibility on the expected number of patient visits to all caregivers.

Enhanced staff productivity: The systems allow providers to access real-time patient schedules and information. This enables them to distribute the workload among available caregivers, minimizing apparent overutilization or underutilization of some providers.

Task automation: Centralized scheduling systems integrated into EMR allow for automatic scheduling of common tasks such as emailing reminders to patients on follow-up, confirming patient appointments, and allowing patients to book clinical visitation online. This way, these systems enhance the efficiency of the scheduling systems, reducing wait times that would have otherwise been incurred with manual appointing and subsequently improving patient satisfaction with the care processes.
Limitations Lack of flexibility: The system is often slow to respond to acute changes in healthcare, such as short-staffing. Once configured to a specific task, the system may also be unable to modify features, such as the availability or unavailability of specific healthcare services.

Initial cost of installation: The cost of installing a centralized scheduling system is usually high. Notwithstanding, the system is cost-effective, especially in care centers with a high patient flow. It is thus a worthy investment.

 

  1. Identify one low-tech solution or practice that could be used in the scenario.
  2. Describe the strengths of the low-tech solution or practice in addressing the problem in the scenario.
  3. Describe the limitations of the low-tech solution or practice in addressing the problem in the scenario.
Low-Tech Solution or Practice Provider Education on Healthcare Communications and Handling of High Patient Volumes

Provider education on healthcare communications is an evidence-based practice and a low-tech solution to ineffective communication between caregivers. It equips providers with the prerequisite skills necessary for interpersonal engagement, enhancing their ability to collaborate with other healthcare providers in coordinating care services for their patients. Healthcare providers can also be educated on best practices in handling high patient volumes. In this case, they are informed about the significance of effective patient scheduling and scheduling based on the patient care acuity to ensure that patients with higher care demands are managed by more experienced caregivers (Raghupathi & Raghupathi, 2020).
Strengths Capacity expansion: Educational processes among caregivers equip them with the best practices to address presenting healthcare challenges.

Easy administration: Provider education is a low-tech strategy that does not require many considerations other than space, time, and a facilitator. They can also be integrated into the normative continuous medical education programs, eliminating the need for further time allocations.

Easy monitoring and evaluation: Educational programs are easy to monitor and evaluate. Summative evaluation of educational programs within healthcare facilities enables immediate determination of how the providers understood the learned concepts.
Limitations Limited location: Training programs can only be performed within a defined location and for a specific audience.

Cultural barriers may pose specific challenges to educational programs: In the presence of apparent cultural diversity, problems such as language barriers and cross-cultural communication may arise. Thus, it is important that the training facilitators maintain cultural awareness and leverage cross-cultural communication techniques to enhance the effectiveness of the educational program.

 

  1. Compare the proposed innovation, the identified existing technology, and the identified low-tech solution. Include the following four points in your comparison:
  • a discussion of a perceived positive impact of each of the three solutions on patient outcomes
  • a discussion of a perceived negative impact of each of the three solutions on patient outcomes
  • a discussion of a perceived positive impact of each of the three solutions on cost savings
  • a discussion of a perceived negative impact of each of the three solutions on cost savings
Proposed Innovation Existing Technology Low-Tech Solution
Name of innovation AI-Assisted Centralized Appointment Scheduling Centralized Scheduling Systems Provider Education on Healthcare Communications and Handling of High Patient Volumes
Positive impact on patient outcomes The proposed innovation is expected to reduce patient wait times within the healthcare organization and, in turn, improve patient experiences and satisfaction with the care services. Foremost, it will streamline workflows by facilitating seamless patient scheduling services. It will also allow for forecasting fluctuations in patient volumes, informing the need to mobilize caregivers to respond to increases in patient volumes. Centralized scheduling systems reduce patient wait times by streamlining patient scheduling services. This, in turn, improves patient satisfaction and experiences. This strategy improves the providers’ ability to handle high patient volumes and coordinate healthcare services. Subsequently, this is likely to translate to better patient experiences and satisfaction.
Negative impact on patient outcomes The technology may pose a threat to the security of patient data. This is especially true when open AI systems are utilized. Poor data security may translate into patient dissatisfaction. The lack of flexibility in centralized scheduling systems may deny some patients access to some hospital services. This may translate into poor patient satisfaction. Providing education may fail to address patient dissatisfaction with long wait times immediately. Frenk et al. (2022) note that educational programs may produce gradual returns and may not be beneficial in addressing acute healthcare problems.
Positive impact on cost savings In the long term, the technology will enhance system workflows and operational efficiency within the organization. This will contribute to significant cost savings by eliminating wastage due to longer wait times. By improving patient satisfaction, the technology guarantees revenue inflow from patient visitations. The technology streamlines workflows and improves operational efficiency within healthcare organizations. This is expected to translate into significant cost savings by eliminating time wastage. Educational programs result in significant cost savings to the organization. Foremost, they do not require a high starting capital to implement. Additionally, they may still be effective in optimizing care coordination services, thereby addressing issues with longer wait times.
Negative impact on cost savings The project has an initial high-cost requirement. In the short term, the project may be expensive and may impinge other hospital projects. Implementing the project requires significant funds. A cost-benefit analysis will have to be performed to guarantee whether the project has a return on investment. In care settings, where the volume of patients is high, educational approaches may fail to adequately curtail long wait times. This may result in persistent operational inefficiencies within the organization. This may have a negative impact on the organization.

 

  1. Discuss the key lessons you learned in designing your proposed technology innovation by including the following two points:
  • an explanation of which solution provides the best positive impact on patient outcomes and cost savings
  • a conclusion of whether or not your proposed innovation is the best solution for the problem presented in the scenario
Lessons learned The proposed technological solution demonstrates how healthcare technologies can be leveraged to solve healthcare problems. An analysis of the high-tech and low-tech options provided reveals that the use of AI-assisted centralized appointment scheduling produces the best positive impact on patient outcomes and cost savings. Technological innovations improve the existing scheduling systems by adding an AI component that will inform patient volume forecasting, anticipated workloads among providers, and automatically communicate provider availability to the patients. By streamlining workflows and improving operational efficiencies within the organization, the technology is expected to contribute to significant cost savings by eliminating costs attributable to time wastage. Additionally, it will improve financial flows within the organizations by ensuring optimal patient flow to the organization.
Conclusion Long wait times signify a compromise in the operational efficiency within healthcare organizations. They result in poor patient satisfaction with the care processes and reduced financial returns for the organizations. In this regard, health technologies remain effective in optimizing organizational workflows and operational efficiencies. An AI-assisted centralized appointment scheduling is one of the healthcare innovations that can be applied in the presented hypothetical scenario to address long wait times. Despite being costly in its implementation, the benefits of the innovation in improving workflow and enhancing operational efficiency outweigh its costs, making it a worthy investment.

D. APA Sources

Ala, A., & Chen, F. (2022). Appointment scheduling problem in complexity systems of the healthcare services: A comprehensive review. Journal of Healthcare Engineering, 2022, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/5819813

Alowais, S. A., Alghamdi, S. S., Alsuhebany, N., Alqahtani, T., Alshaya, A. I., Almohareb, S. N., Aldairem, A., Alrashed, M., Bin Saleh, K., Badreldin, H. A., Al Yami, M. S., Al Harbi, S., & Albekairy, A. M. (2023). Revolutionizing healthcare: The role of artificial intelligence in clinical practice. BMC Medical Education, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04698-z

Frenk, J., Chen, L. C., Chandran, L., Groff, E. O., King, R., Meleis, A., & Fineberg, H. V. (2022). Challenges and opportunities for educating health professionals after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lancet, 400(10362), 1539–1556. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(22)02092-x

Marshall, D. A., Bischak, D. P., Zaerpour, F., Sharif, B., Smith, C., Reczek, T., Robert, J., Werle, J., & Dick, D. (2022). Wait time management strategies at centralized intake system for hip and knee replacement surgery: A need for a blended evidence-based and patient-centered approach. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage Open, 4(4), 100314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocarto.2022.100314

Nilsen, E. R., Stendal, K., & Gullslett, M. K. (2020). Implementation of ehealth technology in community health care: The complexity of stakeholder involvement. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05287-2

Raghupathi, V., & Raghupathi, W. (2020). The influence of education on health: An empirical assessment of OECD countries for the period 1995–2015. Archives of Public Health, 78(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-020-00402-5

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Question

Propose a healthcare technology innovation to address the challenge of long wait times. Complete this form to submit to an innovation board for approval (suggested length of 8–10 pages) by doing the following:

  1. Innovation Details
  2. Describe your technology innovation, including each of the following four points:
  • name of the innovation
  • two key features of the innovation
  • two relevant functions of the innovation
  • general justification as to why this innovation should be considered
Name of Innovation
Key Features
Relevant Functions
Statement of Justification

 (Optional) Add images or sketches:

  1. Explain whether your proposed technology innovation is disruptive or sustaining.
Type of Innovation

 

  1. Innovation Analysis
  2. Analyze your technology innovation using two factors from Herzlinger’s six-factor analysis to determine the likelihood of the success of your proposed innovation.
Factor qOutcomes

 

  1. Complete an impact assessment of your technology innovation based on the Impact Assessment Framework (IAF) by doing the following:
  2. Discuss two potential outcomes from the Strategy and Finance dimension that should be monitored.
  3. Choose one additional dimension and discuss one potential outcome of your technology innovation, and how the potential outcome is related to the chosen dimension.
Dimension Outcomes

 

  1. Comparative Assessments
  2. Identify one existing technology that is similar to the proposed solution from prompt A1.
  3. Describe the strengths of the existing technology in addressing the problem presented in the scenario.
  4. Describe the limitations of the existing technology in addressing the problem presented in the scenario.
Existing Technology
Strengths
Limitations

 

  1. Identify one low-tech solution or practice that could be used in the scenario.
  2. Describe the strengths of the low-tech solution or practice in addressing the problem in the scenario.
  3. Describe the limitations of the low-tech solution or practice in addressing the problem in the scenario.
Low-Tech Solution or Practice
Strengths
Limitations
Assignment 2 Technology Innovation

Assignment 2 Technology Innovation

 

  1. Compare the proposed innovation, the identified existing technology, and the identified low-tech solution. Include the following four points in your comparison:
  • a discussion of a perceived positive impact of each of the three solutions on patient outcomes
  • a discussion of a perceived negative impact of each of the three solutions on patient outcomes
  • a discussion of a perceived positive impact of each of the three solutions on cost savings
  • a discussion of a perceived negative impact of each of the three solutions on cost savings
Proposed Innovation Existing Technology Low-Tech Solution
Name of innovation
Positive impact on patient outcomes
Negative impact on patient outcomes
Positive impact on cost savings
Negative impact on cost savings

 

  1. Discuss the key lessons you learned in designing your proposed technology innovation by including the following two points:
  • an explanation of which solution provides the best positive impact on patient outcomes and cost savings
  • a conclusion of whether or not your proposed innovation is the best solution for the problem presented in the scenario
Lessons learned

 

  1. APA Sources

Acknowledge sources, using APA-formatted in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.