Quality the Customer Didnt Wnt
C A S E
S T U D Y
A high-tech reception system will make life easier for Quality Care's staff, but what about its customers^
The Quality Improvement Customers Didn't Want by Dawn Iacobucci
Jack Zadow, the consultant, was persuasive. Wrapping up the hourlong presentation, he still seemed as energized as be bad in tbe first five minutes. "Your biggest competitor, HealtbCare One, has already begun using a computerized reception system in 14 of its 22 facilities," he said, pointing to the overhead projection illuminating the darkened conference room. The image was a regional map with red stars on every HealthCare One facility and yellow circles around tbe ones using tbe new system. "Wben their members come in the door, they go right to a computer and slide their identification eard through. Then the computer leads them through a set of questions about tbeir current medical condition, tbe reason for tbe visit, and so on. Everything is done electronically: The computer pulls the member's record, processes the new information, and then routes the member to tbe appropriate staff person for consultation." He slipped tbe next image over tbe map. It showed Quality Care's own facilities in dull brown. "HealtbCare One will have all its facilities up and running on the Dawn Iacobucci is an associate professor of marketing at the f.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston. Illinois.
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new system by June. Tbe number two player, MediCenters, is planning to install a similar system by January 1997. I think you should consider it seriously - it's really tbe wave of tbe future." Tbe last overbead. A model of a "new and improved" Quality Care reception area. No more crowded waiting room. Patients talking with nurses in the privacy of small, partitioned cubicles. Other patients checking in, paying bills, even hav-
ing tbeir blood pressure taken at attractive computer stations. "I tbink tbis one speaks for itself." Jack let the
S T U D Y
A high-tech reception system will make life easier for Quality Care's staff, but what about its customers^
The Quality Improvement Customers Didn't Want by Dawn Iacobucci
Jack Zadow, the consultant, was persuasive. Wrapping up the hourlong presentation, he still seemed as energized as be bad in tbe first five minutes. "Your biggest competitor, HealtbCare One, has already begun using a computerized reception system in 14 of its 22 facilities," he said, pointing to the overhead projection illuminating the darkened conference room. The image was a regional map with red stars on every HealthCare One facility and yellow circles around tbe ones using tbe new system. "Wben their members come in the door, they go right to a computer and slide their identification eard through. Then the computer leads them through a set of questions about tbeir current medical condition, tbe reason for tbe visit, and so on. Everything is done electronically: The computer pulls the member's record, processes the new information, and then routes the member to tbe appropriate staff person for consultation." He slipped tbe next image over tbe map. It showed Quality Care's own facilities in dull brown. "HealtbCare One will have all its facilities up and running on the Dawn Iacobucci is an associate professor of marketing at the f.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston. Illinois.
20
new system by June. Tbe number two player, MediCenters, is planning to install a similar system by January 1997. I think you should consider it seriously - it's really tbe wave of tbe future." Tbe last overbead. A model of a "new and improved" Quality Care reception area. No more crowded waiting room. Patients talking with nurses in the privacy of small, partitioned cubicles. Other patients checking in, paying bills, even hav-
ing tbeir blood pressure taken at attractive computer stations. "I tbink tbis one speaks for itself." Jack let the