title: Treating patients like customers. Just-in-time inventory control for patient-centered care.
abstract: Managing change in health care is a complex, poorly studied process that's even more poorly understood. We do not have a clear model to visualize as we contemplate just what it is we are changing. Explore how modern hospitals are "warehousing" patients like excess inventory, and examine the changes needed to escape this morass. A strong physician/hospital alliance is the key to establishing more efficient, patient-centered care.
authors.affiliation: St. Luke's Medical Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. jwhit@execpc.com
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Whitcomb
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shafa
mesh_terms: D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D006739:Hospital Administration / Q000592:standards*; D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D015285:Hospital-Patient Relations; D018578:Hospital-Physician Relations; D020445:Hospitalists; D006801:Humans; D007445:Inventories, Hospital; D017146:Models, Organizational; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012941:Social Responsibility; D014481:United States