ABSTRACT
I’d like to use a simplified, yet real case example of how to use the concepts of value and cost, combined with customer focus, in instituting a value/cost initiative. In Figure 3.8, the customer is a patient, the provider is a gastroenterologist and his staff, the procedure is a colonoscopy, and the process involves a patient visit to receive the procedure, and this qualifies as but one dimension of the patient’s healthcare system and one
aspect of the healthcare enterprise. It’s worthy to note that, of the top five deadly cancers, colorectal cancer represents more than 50% of the worldwide cancer deaths each year, depending on whose statistics you’re looking at, ranks number 3 or 4, usually behind lung and prostate for men, and lung and breast for women (and sometimes you’ll see the top three as lung, stomach, and liver, with the fourth being colorectal followed by breast). Regardless of the ranking, it’s safe to say that colorectal cancer qualifies as a major cancer killer. One that can, for the most part, be prevented and successfully treated if discovered and remedied in time.
