Drivers and Barriers for the Implementation of Integral Capacity Management in Norwegian Hospitals

Abstract

Rising healthcare expenditures call for new ways of working smarter in hospitals to achieve their target performance with the same budget and staffing levels. Integral Capacity Management (ICM) is an approach developed in the Netherlands that helps hospitals achieve their desired performance. It matches patient demand with resource capacity by managing variability without increasing costs. With the question in mind of whether this approach could be implemented in Norway, this report analyses the main differences between the Dutch and Norwegian healthcare systems and identifies drives and barriers for the implementation of ICM in Norwegian hospitals. Overall, the success of implementing ICM in Norway could be less than in the Netherlands due to the mentioned differences between the healthcare systems. However, there is still great potential for improving the current way of planning in Norwegian hospitals, and we believe ICM can highly contribute to this improvement.