Case Study 1: Statistical Thinking in Health Care
Due Week 4 and worth 150 points

Read the following case study.

BenDavis had just completed an intensive course in Statistical Thinkingfor Business Improvement, which was offered to all employees of a largehealth maintenance organization. There was no time to celebrate,however, because he was already under a lot of pressure. Ben works as apharmacist's assistant in the HMO's pharmacy, and his manager, Juan dePacotilla, was about to be fired. Juan's dismissal appeared to beimminent due to numerous complaints, and even a few lawsuits overinaccurate prescriptions. Juan now was asking Ben for his assistance intrying 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."
"Idon't care what your job title is; I think you're just the person whocan get this done. I realize I've been too far removed from day-to-dayoperations in the pharmacy, but you work there every day. You're in amuch better position to find out how to fix the problem. Just tell mewhat 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 twoweeks trying to come up with a new modeling approach to predict weeklyinaccurate prescriptions. I tried to explain to him that I don't want topredict the mistakes, I want to eliminate them! I don't think I gotthrough, however, because he said we need a month of additional data toverify the model, and then he can apply a new method he just read aboutin a journal to identify 'change points in the time series,' whateverthat means. But get this, he will only identify the change points andsend me a list; he says it's my job to figure out what they mean and howto respond. I don't know much about statistics — the only thing Iremember from my course in college is that it was the worst course Iever took– but I'm becoming convinced that it actually doesn't havemuch to offer in solving real problems. You've just gone through thisstatistical thinking course, though, so maybe you can see something Ican't. To me, statistical thinking sounds like an oxymoron. I realizeit's a long shot, but I was hoping you could use this as the project youneed 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 abouthow we can approach making improvements in prescription accuracy, and Ithink this would be a great project. We may not be able to solve itourselves, however. As you know, there is a lot of finger-pointing goingon; the pharmacists blame sloppy handwriting and incompleteinstructions from doctors for the problem; doctors blame pharmacyassistants like me who actually do most of the computer entry of theprescriptions, claiming that we are incompetent; and the assistants tendto blame the pharmacists for assuming too much about our knowledge ofmedical terminology, brand names, known drug interactions, and so on."
"It sounds like there's no hope, Ben!"

"Iwouldn't say that at all, Juan. It's just that there may be no quickfix we can do by ourselves in the pharmacy. Let me explain how I'mthinking about this and how I would propose attacking the problem usingwhat 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.