The aim of the enterprise resource planning (EPR) system is to care for the patients so that their whole treatment is completed in one visit. It is intended to help shorten patient treatment periods, reduce patient travel costs and enhance the organisation’s business. Many names are used to refer to the business model: the one-visit model, the fix-all-in-one model, or the flexible patient treatment model.1
A study by Aalto University compared a private single-visit dental clinic to two municipal dental clinics. The single-visit clinic treated more patients and conducted more weighted procedures than the municipal dental clinics, proportionate to the number of staff. The distribution of professions among the staff of the single-visit clinic differs slightly from that of the municipal clinics, which affects the amount of patients and procedures. Comparing the amount of visits between similar patients, the patients of the single-visit clinic had an average of 1,4 visits, whereas those of the municipal clinics had an average of 2,3 visits. The average length of treatment periods between similar patients was 27 days for the single-visit clinics and 71 and 73 days for the municipal clinics.
73 % of all patients at the single-visit clinic had treatment periods of one day, whereas in the municipal clinics 49 % and 44 % of all patients had one-day long treatment periods. The clientele of the single-visit clinic and the municipal clinics are slightly different, however, according to the analysis circa 70 % of the municipal clinics’ adult clients could become clients of the single-visit model.2
Practical experiences
One dental clinic in the Jyväskylä region implemented the single-visit model on trial. During the trial, the dental clinic completed 48 % more procedures than in other units and the patients’ treatment periods became shorter. At the end of the trial over half of the unit’s patients were new, whereas in other units 29 % were new patients.3
Transitioning to this operational model has increased productivity and reduced the number of visits per patient in the South Karelia social and healthcare region. The customers’ treatment period lengths have become significantly shorter and customer satisfaction has increased.1
In the Satakunta region implementing this model has improved productivity and made the business more flexible. The scope has remained smaller than originally planned, which may have affected the economic productivity. Customer satisfaction has been high and staff wellbeing has improved.1
The model is used in the Örebro region in Sweden. During the monitored period the productivity has been better than in the control organisation. 69 % of the patients had a maximum of 3 treatment visits and 72% of the patients were treated during one visit.1
Changes in the organisation
Bringing out the effectivity of the operational model demands going through a transitional process, which entails the training of all participating staff and committing to a new way of doing things. The need for a transitional process has been taken into account and the company has an introduction project plan1.
The organisation’s experiences of the single-visit operational model have for the most part been positive: treatment periods have become shorter, the staff are satisfied and customer experiences have been positive.4
