Of course, McDonald's was quiet about its adoption of its rival's processing innovation. McDonald's might argue that in terms of its philosophy, essentially, McDonald's was putting its customers first and viewing them individual customers rather than as projected statistics plotted on a demand curve.
This philosophy is at the heart of patient-focused care, a recent strategy adopted by many hospitals in response to criticism of the healthcare system as unnecessarily faceless and bureaucratic. One example of patient-focused care is how, in the distribution of healthcare to different patients, hospitals may adopt point-of-care treatment for critically ill patients, to minimize moving these patients around. This improves patient care yet also is more cost-effective in the long run. "Patient-focused care (PFC) or patient-centered care is a model chosen by many hospital CEOs in attempts to compete. PFC is a means for decreasing the cost of providing health care while improving the quality of health care services. Its principles flow from those of TQM/CQI, bringing patient care needs as close to the bedside as possible. In doing so, according to the logic of PFC, the number of workers needed to provide the care decreases and the time nurses have available to spend with patients increases. Therefore, the cost of care goes down while the quality of care goes up" (Myers 1998:1).
However, much like McDonald's was very cagy about its adoption of the strategy of health care provision of its most contentious rival, Burger King, hospital organizations have likewise deemphasized the theoretical grounding in business management of these patient-focused principles, and instead have chosen to stress PFC's benefits for the patient -- even the name of patient-focused care suggests this potential marketing appeal. Like all change in healthcare, this has been problematic at times during its initial phases, as organizations have had to reorder their hierarchies of different departments, as the patient's needs, rather than standard operating procedures,...
The adoption of patient-focused care at many hospitals has not been seamlessly integrated into the system, like McDonald's, which is so standardized in the ways that it operates its franchises that the shift to a different model of process design, where consumer demand sets minute-by-minute benchmarks, happened quite quickly. However, in PFC, consumers, in a hospital environment, the individuals known as patients, drive how and what care is provided and offered, rather than the hospital simply offering pre-determined services and waiting for the patient to 'come and get it.'
In patient-focused care, everybody 'wins' -- patients receive more personalized care that targets their ailment's specific needs, and the hospital saves vital dollars. In McDonald's new system, there is less food wastage, customers have more selection on the menu and in terms of how many (if any) pickles and onions will dot their Big Mac. The food tastes better, too, because it spends less time resting under hot lamps. Whether the greater ease of consuming McDonald's, and the greater profit enjoyed by the company is a bonus may be an object of debate in the health care profession, but both PFC hospitals and McDonald's new process design show the economic and marketing value of putting customer's demand first, rather than anticipating demand.
Works Cited
Clouten, K., & Weber, R. (Feb 1994). "Patient-focused care... playing to win."
FindArticles. Retrieved September 1, 2006, at http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3619/is_199402/ai_n8720635
Myers, Susan M. (Jul-Aug 1998). "Patient-focused care: what managers should know." Nursing Economics. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FSW/is_n4_v16/ai_n18607892/pg_1
McGinn, D. (1 May 2001). "McDonald's Case Study: Burger Time." Jungle Magazine.
Retrieved September 1, 2006, at http://www.jungleonline.com/magazine.cfm?INC=inc_article.cfm&artid=1503 & template=1&date=May2001&refid=g3
