Business Process Management to manage clinical risk: a case-study in the healthcare sector

Purpose. Clinical risk management is a managerial approach to improve quality in healthcare sector: this paper aims to demonstrate how important is the adoption of a process focused organization for the survival of healthcare structures, improving quality of management, patient safety, reducing costs and risks. Methodology. The methodology used is the case study, in order to analyze a specific case of real life: this method will be applied to the Health Care sector, as a practical example of identification, analysis and management of critical situations, in terms of improvement. Findings. Results show how a comprehensive view of the processes may provide improvements in operations, identifying different risks and bottlenecks, suggesting the rapid adoption of corrective policies and improvements, in terms of overall efficiency. Practical implications. A healthcare system could achieve a competitive advantage through the innovation of the organizational processes, thanks to which it is possible to identify and reduce clinical risks. Originality/value. Within the Italian healthcare system, limited attention has been paid to design of healthcare facilities; the need is to provide flexible solutions to realize a lean management. The originality of the work is the analysis of a complex organization, thanks to which it has been possible to identify the hidden critical situations, and suggest solution of improvement for a better healthcare management.