Read the following case study.

Ben Davis had just completed an

intensive course in Statistical Thinking for Business Improvement,

which was offered to all employees of a large health maintenance

organization. There was no time to celebrate, however, because he was

already under a lot of pressure. Ben works as a pharmacist's assistant

in the HMO's pharmacy, and his manager, Juan de Pacotilla, was about to

be fired. Juan's dismissal appeared to be imminent due to numerous

complaints, and even a few lawsuits over inaccurate prescriptions. Juan

now was asking Ben for his assistance in trying to resolve the problem,

preferably yesterday!

"Ben, I really need your help! If I can't show some major improvement or at least a solid plan by next month, I'm history."
"I'll be glad to help, Juan, but what can I do? I'm just a pharmacist's assistant."
"I don't care what your job title is; I think you're just the person who

can get this done. I realize I've been too far removed from day-to-day

operations in the pharmacy, but you work there every day. You're in a

much better position to find out how to fix the problem. Just tell me

what to do, and I'll do it."
"But what about the statistical consultant you hired to analyze the data on inaccurate prescriptions?"
"Ben,

to be honest, I'm really disappointed with that guy. He has spent two

weeks trying to come up with a new modeling approach to predict weekly

inaccurate prescriptions. I tried to explain to him that I don't want to

predict the mistakes, I want to eliminate them! I don't think I got

through, however, because he said we need a month of additional data to

verify the model, and then he can apply a new method he just read about

in a journal to identify 'change points in the time series,' whatever

that means. But get this, he will only identify the change points and

send me a list; he says it's my job to figure out what they mean and how

to respond. I don't know much about statistics — the only thing I

remember from my course in college is that it was the worst course I

ever took– but I'm becoming convinced that it actually doesn't have

much to offer in solving real problems. You've just gone through this

statistical thinking course, though, so maybe you can see something I

can't. To me, statistical thinking sounds like an oxymoron. I realize

it's a long shot, but I was hoping you could use this as the project you

need to officially complete the course."

"I see your point,

Juan. I felt the same way, too. This course was interesting, though,

because it didn't focus on crunching numbers. I have some ideas about

how we can approach making improvements in prescription accuracy, and I

think this would be a great project. We may not be able to solve it

ourselves, however. As you know, there is a lot of finger-pointing going

on; the pharmacists blame sloppy handwriting and incomplete

instructions from doctors for the problem; doctors blame pharmacy

assistants like me who actually do most of the computer entry of the

prescriptions, claiming that we are incompetent; and the assistants tend

to blame the pharmacists for assuming too much about our knowledge of

medical terminology, brand names, known drug interactions, and so on."
"It sounds like there's no hope, Ben!"

"I

wouldn't say that at all, Juan. It's just that there may be no quick

fix we can do by ourselves in the pharmacy. Let me explain how I'm

thinking about this and how I would propose attacking the problem using

what I just learned in the statistical thinking course."

Source:

G. C. Britz, D. W. Emerling, L. B. Hare, R. W. Hoerl, & J. E. Shade.

"How to Teach Others to Apply Statistical Thinking." Quality Progress

(June 1997): 67–80.

Assuming the role of Ben Davis, write a three to four (3-4) pagepaper in which you apply the approach discussed in the textbook to thisproblem. You'll have to make some assumptions about the processes usedby the HMO pharmacy. Also, please use the Internet and / or Strayer LRCto research articles on common problems or errors that pharmacies face.Your paper should address the following points:

1. Develop a process map about the prescription filling process forHMO's pharmacy, in which you specify the key problems that the HMO'spharmacy might be experiencing. Next, use the supplier, input, processsteps, output, and customer (SIPOC) model to analyze the HMO pharmacy'sbusiness process.
2. Analyze the process map and SIPOC model to identify possible mainroot causes of the problems. Next, categorize whether the main rootcauses of the problem are special causes or common causes. Provide arationale for your response.
3. Suggest the main tools that you would use and the data that youwould collect in order to analyze the business process and correct theproblem. Justify your response.
4. Propose one (1) solution to the HMO pharmacy's on-going problem(s)and propose one (1) strategy to measure the aforementioned solution.Provide a rationale for your response.
5. Use at least two (2) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), withone-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APAformat. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, thestudent's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date.The cover page and the reference page are not included in the requiredassignment page length.