Although our U.S. health care system consumes nearly 20% of the GDP, it is plagued with pockets of poor quality, waste, fragmentation, and disparities. Given that the U.S. spends more than any nation on health care (and has the highest percentage spent on administrative costs) but has less than ideal outcomes, it’s imperative that health care leaders take a close look at the day-to-day processes that undergird patient care in this vast system of intricate, smaller systems.
Enter the health care systems engineer. Health care systems engineering is tailored to improving processes using tools of lean think- ing combined with the principles of systems engineering. It’s designed to be as thorough yet unobtrusive and nimble as possible, alleviating administrative burdens.
An increase in health care systems engineer- ing nationwide is at the heart of our program’s efforts at Loyola Marymount University. The first of its kind in the country, our Master of Science degree has ignited a passion for implementing improvements in health care through our driven, dedicated students and graduates.
A well-trained healthcare systems engineer, such as the graduates of our program, combines their knowledge of systems engineering with project management skills.
These crucial processes start with evaluation: every venue where health care is practiced is observed and analyzed, including virtual, outpatient, inpatient, diagnostic imaging, ORs and procedural suites, pharmacies, laboratories, emergency departments, and even administrative suites.
Quality and safety systems in health care can be intricate, with many stakeholders. A deep understanding of the architecture of the electronic medical record and its interfaces with devices, population health, and big data are complex issues that need to be solved. Skilled HSE professionals identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies that lead to frustrations in these areas, then turn to fix them.
Because our graduates are ready to contribute immediately, wherever they land in the health care industry, they have made an impact in many of the largest organizations in Los Angeles and beyond. With this knowledge in hand, healthcare systems engineers can design an improved future state including project requirements, analysis of alternatives, and risk assessment. The result is a durable solution, informed by all stakeholders, that respects how the process fits into the overall system.
Systems engineering is a discipline that arose from the defense/aerospace industries to coordinate complex projects involving multiple disciplines, like a missile defense system or rocket launch. For the past decade, the principles of systems engineering have been applied to health care with impressive results.
The President’s Council on Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) issued a report titled “Better Health and Lower Costs: Accelerating Improvement through Systems Engineering” to President Obama in 2014, encouraging the use of such engineering.
“Systems engineering, widely used in manufacturing and aviation, is an interdisciplinary approach to analyze, design, manage, and measure a complex system to improve its efficiency, reliability, productivity, quality, and safety,” the report said. “It has often produced dramatically positive results in the small number of healthcare organizations that have incorporated it into their processes. But in spite of such excellent examples, systems methods and tools are not yet used on a widespread basis in the American health care system.”
Understanding the need is one thing, but recognizing the steps to get there is what makes the Master of Science degree in Healthcare Systems Engineering an essential part of the health care industry. The quest to remove waste and inefficiencies from the entire healthcare process requires intricate study and care — the exact kind provided by our student capstone projects.
With the right passion and dedication, anyone interested in becoming a health care systems engineer is invited to join a cohort of students at LMU — whether working professionals looking to pivot or recent grads who want to improve their skill sets. The job pos- sibilities are plentiful, from project analysts to consultants to clinicians. Visit cse.lmu.edu/hse to learn more about our flexible evening and online classes.
David A. Quam, MD is a family medicine physician who served as area medical director and chief of staff as well as assistant executive medical director at Kaiser Permanente before joining the faculty at LMU as clinical professor and director of Healthcare Systems Engineering. He is happy to provide talks to organizations and can be reached at [email protected].
