
Semester: 2008 Fall
Students: Brian Friedman & Stephanie Singer
Union Hospital, part of the non-profit North Shore Medical Center (NSMC), is a 150-actue bed hospital that serves the population of the City of Lynn and surrounding areas.
As the largest health care provider in the North Shore area of Boston, Massachusetts, NSMC is aware of the importance of having a truly effective Customer Service and Patient Relations division to manage patient complaints and dispute resolution. For this reason, the Customer Service and Patient Relations team is examining the effectiveness of its processes and operations under the direction of its new manager, the Director of Risk Management and Customer Service. This project, with the help of HNMCP, will allow Union Hospital to enhance clinical and non-clinical staff and patient satisfaction.
Our work
Step 1: Conduct a thorough literature review of health care systems’ best practices for customer complaint and dispute resolution.
Step 2: Research Union Hospital’s current complaint and dispute management processes, conducting a series of internal stakeholder interviews to determine the status of the current system.
Step 3: Provide a preliminary analysis of current practices and make written recommendations for overall process improvement.
Final Product
A sophisticated analysis of the current dispute management structure, a summary of best practices for dispute management solutions in similar, and a report proposal for possible reforms that might be undertaken for the implementation of systematic process improvements.