An organization's “processes” can be defined as a set of resources and efforts that are applied in a coordinated manner with the aim of achieving the institution's objectives.

Thus, managing processes means identifying factors, planning, coordinating, monitoring, evaluating, optimizing and improve the activities carried out, always seeking continuous improvement and, consequently, excellence.

For health plan operators, the management of organizational processes is of paramount importance. In this article, we will talk about its impacts and give some tips on how to apply it. Check out!

How important is process management for operators?

Scattered information, rework, pending issues and difficulty in seeing the health plan operator's activities in a dynamic and integrated way lead to the waste of many resources, such as inputs, human, technological and knowledge resources, which causes financial losses for the operator.

Therefore, the management of organizational processes is important for the operator, as:

• helps to leverage results;
• help to reduce costs and losses;
• increases the level of satisfaction of agents involved in the process, both customers, employees and shareholders;
• provides a basis for directing efforts to what is most important;
• investigates and reduces unnecessary bureaucracy, reducing rework and redundant information;
• reduces failures and contributes to the fluidity of processes.

How to apply organizational process management?

Align strategic objectives

All activities carried out by the operator must comply with the objectives and mission of the institution. Therefore, it is part of process management to establish objectives that are aligned with the operator's strategies. This helps to avoid wasting resources and optimize time.

Map the processes

Having a broad view of the activities carried out by the operator is essential for efficient management. After all, without knowing and/or understanding the procedures or how the sectors relate to each other, it is impossible to adopt a quality culture in the institution.

Therefore, mapping processes means having knowledge of the activities that are carried out at the operator. This means understanding what the purpose is and its importance in the final product, what resources the activity requires, how much time, what the results are and where it is possible to improve the process.

Create flowcharts

Flowcharts offer a simple way to map processes. To prepare them, we must write the steps in an orderly way, as a “step by step”, connecting the previous and next phases using an arrow.

Thus, in a visual way and with an intuitive and friendly interface, they offer an overview of the operator's procedures, allowing you to identify which steps flow better and which require more attention.

Integrate company areas

When sectors operate in isolation, it becomes difficult to identify problems and the operator is more likely to add unnecessary bureaucracy to the flow of activities, make mistakes and obtain incomplete information.

Therefore, the sectors of the health plan operator must talk to each other. To achieve this, it is important that this exchange of information occurs in a standardized and, preferably, systematic way. This, in addition to improving relationships between employees, also contributes to more dynamic internal processes, ensuring faster and more accurate responses.

Establish indicators

Indicators are ways of quantitatively measuring the institution's performance. They are very important because they offer real data to evaluate the performance of processes, allowing the manager to evaluate whether the activities agree with what was planned and, thus, improve the processes.

In the health plan operator, indicators can be, for example, the institution's profit, the number of contracts closed in a month, the average time to perform a certain procedure, adherence to auxiliary procedures, the increase or reduction in disallowances hospitals etc.

Therefore, we learned the importance of managing organizational processes in health plan operators. We saw that, to carry out efficient management, it is necessary to map the institution's processes, align activities with the operator's objectives and integrate the company's areas. We also understand that carrying out performance evaluation is important to check whether the processes are in accordance with what was planned.

And there? Did you like our tips? In our other article, we also explain how to optimize medical audit processes. Read now!