Ellen Milan visited her personal physician for treatment of flu symptoms. She was greeted by the receptionist, who gave her personal history and insurance forms to complete. She needed no instructions; she completed these same forms every time she visited the doctor. After completing the forms, Ms. Milan waited for 30 minutes before being ushered into the patient room. After waiting there for an additional 15 minutes, Dr. Heape entered the room. The doctor ushered Ms. Milan into the hallway where he weighed her and called her weight out to the nurse for recording. Ms. Milan had gained 10 pounds since her last visit, and the doctor suggested that she consider going on a diet. Dr. Heape then took her temperature and asked her to return to the patient room. Ten minutes later, he returned to take a throat culture and draw blood. She waited another 15 minutes for the test results. Finally, the doctor returned and told Ms. Milan that she had strep throat and bronchitis. Dr. Heape prescribed an antibiotic and told her to get at least two days of bed rest. Ms. Milan was then ushered to the accounting department to settle her bill. The accounting clerk asked her several questions; the answers to most of them were on the forms that she had completed when she first arrived at the office. Finally, Ms. Milan paid her required copayment and left the office. Three weeks later, she received a bill indicating that she had not paid the copayment. She called the accounting department, and after a search of the records, the clerk verified that the bill had, in fact, been paid. The clerk apologized for the inconvenience and inquired as to whether Ms. Milan’s health had improved.
Required
a. Identify at least three value-added and three nonvalue-added activities suggested in this scenario.
b. Provide logical suggestions for how to eliminate the nonvalue-added activities.