Newsletter: What It Takes to Sustain Lasting Results and Continuous Improvement

Healthcare organizations are radically changing the way they work. They have little choice in the face of declining reimbursements, increased emphasis on value-based payments, consolidation of competitors and the uncertain future of the U.S. healthcare system. In response, many have pursued lean, which drove initial improvements in their organizations and has benefited patients (improved quality of care at reduced cost), staff (engaged, meaningful, value-adding work) and the organization (bottom-line improvements).

But these initial attempts at lean have been focused for the most part on lean tools, which are not enough; they must be combined with changed leadership behaviors and a lean management system to achieve lasting results and continuous improvement.