China's Taikang Group and Drum Tower Hospital partnered with the Operational Excellence Group at CallisonRTKL to improve operational efficiency by the elimination of waste and to complete simulation modeling analysis for multiple scenarios, according to an article on the Medical Construction & Design website.

The CRTKL OpEX group traveled to Nanjing, China and visited the hospital. After one week of observations, the team noticed similarities and differences between American hospitals and the Chinese Drum Tower. 

Chinese healthcare providers remain stationary in an exam room-like setting, waiting for the continuous revolving door of patients to enter and exit. Upon exiting from a provider consultation, patients are expected to pay for services rendered each time during the same visit, rather than a cumulative final bill after discharge.

One of the first upgrades within the Drum ED was improving the payment process. By reducing the number of payment steps, on average, every patient would be required to walk 50 meters less per visit. 

Read the article.