Average Service Time Reduction on a Health Care Operator: Optimization of the Authorization Process for Magnetic Resonance of the Spine Procedure

Abstract

One of the concerns of private health care operators is the reduction of the service time in their service centers, as required per National Telecommunications Agency regulation. The present technical report was delineated as a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and participant research study.  The approval and scheduling process of the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the spine was modified from the beneficiary request until final authorization of the medical team. The implementation of the new decision-making flow to reduce or eliminate the impacts in patients health, was based on the inclusion of a checklist during the requests of MR of the spine. From the analysis of the results, it was found that the average service time was reduced to 6 minutes with the checklist. It generated a decrease in the average time of service per client from 10 to 6 minutes, with productive gain in process, related to greater operator efficiency and customers, employees and service providers satisfaction.