Alliant Health System: A Vision of Total Quality
Shivani Shenoy
2227654
CASE:
Alliant Health System, is a not-for-profit healthcare system in the US, offering high-quality
treatment at a reasonable price. Alliant implemented a thorough quality improvement program
based on the principles of total quality management to accomplish this objective. (TQM). The
program focused on customer satisfaction, continuous improvement, and employee engagement
and included participation from all levels of the organization, including the board of directors and
frontline staff. To support its efforts to enhance quality, Alliant also made significant IT
investments, such as in electronic medical records and decision support systems.
CASE ANALYSIS:
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The case study suggests that Alliant Health System had an effective strategy that included
IT. Alliant recognized the importance of information technology in improving quality of
care and reducing costs, and invested in various IT systems, including electronic medical
records, computerized physician order entry, and decision support systems.
To make the strategy more effective, I would suggest that Alliant should continue to invest
in IT infrastructure, prioritize data security and privacy, and integrate different IT systems
to enable seamless flow of information across various departments and healthcare
providers.
ISO 9001 is a quality management standard that provides a framework for organizations to
establish, implement, maintain, and continually improve their quality management system.
Alliant could use various clauses in ISO 9001 to make its quality management system more
effective, such as:
Clause 4: Context of the organization, to identify relevant internal and external issues and
determine the scope of the quality management system.
Clause 5: Leadership, to establish a quality policy and assign responsibilities and authorities for
quality management.
Clause 6: Planning, to set quality objectives and develop plans to achieve them.
Clause 7: Support, to provide resources and infrastructure to support the quality management
system.
Clause 8: Operation, to ensure consistent delivery of healthcare services and monitor the
effectiveness of the quality management system.
Clause 9: Performance evaluation, to monitor, measure, analyze, and evaluate the performance of
the quality management system.
Clause 10: Improvement, to identify opportunities for improvement and implement corrective
and preventive actions.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
How should Alliant Health System effectively use IT systems to deal with issues with data quality,
security, and system integration.
CRITERIA
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Effectiveness
Feasibility
Sustainability
Acceptability
ALTERNATIVES
• Invest in IT system integration: Alliant could make an investment in IT system integration
to facilitate information sharing between various providers and agencies. By addressing
the problems with data integration and quality, this approach will increase the effectiveness
of healthcare delivery. However, it's possible that this approach will use many resources
and won't get to the bottom of the cost and satisfaction problems.
• Implement a patient-centered care model: Alliant could use a patient-centered care model
that actively involves patients in their treatment, takes care of their wants and preferences,
and enhances patient-provider communication. In addition to addressing the patient
satisfaction problem, this solution would raise the standard of care. Given the
organization's current procedures and culture, this approach might not be practical.
• Implement a Lean Six Sigma approach: Alliant could use a Lean Six Sigma strategy to find
and get rid of waste, lessen inconsistency, and boost process effectiveness. This answer
would reduce costs while enhancing the standard of service. However, this approach might
necessitate major alterations in the company's culture and might not deal with the patient
satisfaction problem.
RECOMMENDATION
Based on the evaluation of alternatives, I recommend that Alliant invest in IT system integration.
This solution would address the data quality and integration issues and improve the efficiency of
care delivery. To ensure the sustainability and acceptability of the solution, Alliant should involve
key stakeholders in the planning and implementation process, provide ongoing support and
training, and monitor the effectiveness of the solution using metrics such as data quality, system
uptime, and provider satisfaction.