Seeking efficiency and productivity in health care

In this study, we show that the challenging service processes in the health care sector can be improved similarly to those of any other business sector when seeking efficiency and productivity. Two separate case organizations (acute neurology ward and children's dental clinic) from the health care sector were analyzed with the 3VPM (Three View Point Model) methodology that has also been used in several other businesses. A multi-method approach was used to acquire data for the analyses, including interviews and observation completed with numerical data. The first case represents a case where an ICT-related issue acted as a bottleneck, while the second case focuses on renewing the provisioning processes. In both cases, the analysis showed that improvement is possible and also pointed out benefits from different changes. However, the main result is dependent on the decision: will the proposed changes be made or not?