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ISO Standards Development to Confront COVID-19 Isssues Seeks Participants

  • 1.  ISO Standards Development to Confront COVID-19 Isssues Seeks Participants

    Posted 05-14-2020 16:58
    Dear Healthcare Management Division Members:

    I write to share with you information about a new initiative to create international standards and metrics designed to improve the management of healthcare entities.  In 2015, the member countries of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) established the Technical Committee 304 Healthcare Organization Management to convene global experts to develop workflow and metric standards in all aspects of the management of care and operation of healthcare entities.  This initiative is well positioned to respond with solutions to confront the management issues surrounding the recent pandemic.

    This committee will focus on improving the non-clinical aspects of care delivery.  It was founded on the belief that the excessive costs and inefficiencies in healthcare entities are  due to poorly operating IT, HR, Supply Chain, Finance and other support activities in healthcare environments.  Scholarly evidence reveals that improvements in the operation of healthcare support functions will slow increases in care-giving costs and will improve both patient satisfaction and outcomes.

    The ISO committee that developed this standard now seeks the assistance of scholars and educators to expand the awareness and use of this standard to other academics, students, and practitioners in the healthcare management community.We seek you advice and involvement in promoting the adoption of these standards.  We also see other specific opportunities to participate:

    • Including discussions about ISO Standards in student cousework and case studies
    • Conducting and publishing research on the efficacy of these standards in peer reviewed journals
    • Presenting  research outcomes at conferences like AOM
    • Consulting to organizations that wish to adopt theses standards
    • Establishing a secure data warehouse of "true" and current anonymized workforce data for business and academic use
    • Establishing a certification schema for organizations that wish to demonstrate conformity to its requirements
    • Actively participating in the committee that is developing these standards
    • Providing ideas for potential standardization projects
    • Your ideas of course.

    If any of these thoughts appeal to you, please reach out to me at your earliest convenience.  I will set up a virtual meeting in late August, where we can explore this opportunity further.  

    Finally, my thanks and my contact information is below.I welcome the opportunity to discuss with you at your convenience an initiative that we believe will be a transformative for the health sector and society in general.  Cheers.  Lee



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    Lee Webster
    Secretary ISO TC 304
    (703) 867-0721
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