Transforming Medical Assistance Fund Application Management: A Business Process Reengineering Approach.

The application process for the Medical Assistance Fund (MAF) to help patients receive medical interventions at public hospitals has been plagued with delays due to the increasing number of applications, inefficient management, and manual tasks. This study aims to redesign the current application process through Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and to evaluate the effectiveness of a new process to be carried out by the Medical Social Work Unit (MSWU). A new methodology, B2Lean which is based on a combination of the BPR and Lean Thinking was proposed to help identify the processes requiring improvement and to remove inefficient ones. A new online application system, the Patient Assistance Management System was proposed as an IT enabler for this BPR initiative. This study was based on a qualitative research methodology involving a case study in which interviews and observations were used to collect data. The sample study consisted of seven MSWU officers and several supporting staff selected from a government hospital. In the interviews, the '5W 1H' technique was used to elicit and analyze their feedback on issues relating to the existing processes. The findings of the analysis revealed that several manual tasks were inefficient, which had to be either removed or replaced, effectively helping to reduce the overall processing time by 52%. With the new and efficient processes, practitioners could certainly expedite patients' applications for medical assistance, thus helping them to receive prompt medical interventions. The B2Lean methodology could be used as a guideline for organizations seeking improvement in their current practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]