With our unique strengths and limitations. Our concept of a SOC is that is starts where Practice Guidelines leave off. That is, our health care teams need systematic and detailed plans, plans that are actually followed, for important clinical problems in order to achieve dramatic improvements in process and outcome. There is a philosophy that the way to achieve quality health care processes is to hire well-trained and conscientious physicians and get out of their way. Abundant health services research demonstrates the flaw in this approach.
Good people can fail in bad systems.
We believe even the best docs need SOCs. In fact, the SOC planning process can and should be thought of as a redesign tool. Health care teams must identify important health care problems, identify the key processes of care for these problems, redesign these processes where necessary, then weave them into an overall efficient and effective system of care. The awareness of the need for redesign is becoming pervasive in American industry as it strives to remain competitive in the global economy. We are all discovering that the public sector of primary care is not immune from these global economic effects.