After gemba at many health systems in the last few months, there is one common theme that is recurring: Lean is considered as the add-on to improvement, not the improvement system itself. From academic medical centers to community hospitals I am finding that the lean method is being isolated as just another project to lower […]
The Healthcare Value Leaders Network members gathered in Winnipeg yesterday and today to review the great work going on there St. Boniface has been at the lean transformation since 2007.The Healthcare Value Leaders Network visited the site on the 22nd and 23rd and found some powerful lean ideas. I visited St. Boniface 8 months ago and the […]
It’s official, president Obama has nominated Don Berwick M.D. to head CMS.This is good news for healthcare in the U.S. Don Berwick has devoted his career to improving the quality of American healthcare.I can think of no one better to be at the helm of CMS now than Don Berwick. Our collective role now is to […]
The June 9th and 10th summit in Orlando is shaping up to be a terrific look at how some healthcare organizations are successfully changing their culture to continuous improvement using lean At the summit you will hear presentations from Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound on their daily management work which has led to remarkable […]
Paul Akers in Seattle interviewed John Toussaint regarding using lean to improve clinical and financial performance. John Toussaint was interviewed on this radio show in Seattle two weeks ago. Paul Akers, the show’s host, has implemented lean in his own company and now is running for the U.S. Senate on the platform of creating lean government. Talk […]
Dr. Leape was quoted in a recent Modern Healthcare article implying lean methods don’t work.The following is what he said. “…while hospital executives have dithered around with concepts like Lean process improvement, which have “industrialized” the system without regard to care.” “Healthcare has become a production system,” he said. “We think more about nursing […]
Tuesday April 6th, a gathering of more 150 healthcare leaders from across the state took place to begin to craft the future of paying for value in healthcare. See one of the documents that was presented at the summit attached at the end of the blog. Previously, on this blog we have outlined what […]
Once I completed the transformational blog series I realized there is still much more to discuss.”Gemba” is an important place and it means “place where value is created”. I am going to discuss why going to the Gemba is so important. In our upcoming book “On the Mend”, we describe going to Gemba as […]
Now that we have a bill the next steps should be to identify the most important priorities for really changing the cost and quality of healthcare.See the link below and read a chapter in our new book “On the Mend”, then send it to your legislators! The 2,500 page plus bill is daunting in […]
The quality coalition is a group of healthcare providers which include Gundersen Lutheran and ThedaCare. They have worked hard to make sure language was included in the healthcare bill that allows for value to be defined and rewarded. We have known for years that significant geographic disparity exists in healthcare payment. In fact, the Dartmouth […]
