In May 2014, The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology issued a Report to the President on Better Health Care and Lower Costs: Accelerating Improvements Through Systems Engineering. The report discusses "systems engineering" as the approach to improve healthcare. Two organizations that have embraced lean (or “Toyota Production System”, as it is referred to in the report) as their strategy for improvement, Denver Health and Virginia Mason, are cited in the report.
The report stated that the current payment system (fee-for-service) is a major roadblock for true improvement, and links the need for payment reform with better delivery (value for the patient) and the need for data - the right kind, the right access - to drive improvements. It also mentions culture and organizational leadership as keys to success.
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