The TV cameras captured the Acute Heart Attack Value Stream designed by ThedaCare doctors and nurses. This is an interesting look at how lean has collapsed time for an acute heart attack patient. The remarkable thing is as the time has collapsed state of the art therapy is now available for patients that wasn’t before […]
In blog 4 we covered Hoshin Kanri otherwise known as strategy deployment which is an important senior management tool in the lean methodology of continuous improvement. In addition we defined what an A3 was and how it is used to cascade strategy and create dialogue throughout an entire organization. In this week’s blog I want […]
In the end after the T.V. cameras had been turned off have we gotten any closer to real healthcare reform with President Obama’s health care summit? Our politicians were cordial with each other and the Thursday summit was civil.But did it do anything to change fundamental flaws of the original discussions on health reform? The […]
This is the 8th in a series of blogs devoted to organizational transformation. We have covered Purpose, Process and now are going to cover the hardest part, People. In a system wide transformation the most challenging part is transforming the way people think. Coming from a top down autocratic environment (which is the current […]
This peer reviewed article was published by the Indiana University Business school in “Business Horizons”. The article explores mistake proofing techniques in healthcare. We pay particular attention to the Collaborative Care Unit at ThedaCare where we describe both Jidoka and poka-yoke. Both concepts involve stopping the process.Jidoka involves stopping the line in order to solve […]
The following article by the Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda outlines the renewed focus Toyota has on quality. It’s called “Back to Basics for Toyota” and was published in the Wall Street Journal opinion section today. Toyota is testifying in front of congress today for quality missteps that have rarely happened before. The quality of their product […]
The 4th entry in this blog series on whole system organizational transformation is under the rubric of Process and is the Methodology for continuous improvement.This is the Toyota Production System applied to healthcare. The methodology of improvement could be a blog series in and of itself. The first of several upcoming blogs on methodology involves understanding […]
Last week I discussed the importance of purpose and making organizational purpose perfectly clear to everyone. This week I will cover one of three topics under the rubric of Process:True North Metrics. Purpose, process, people. Once purpose is clearly defined we need a process to actually achieve it. Part of that process is knowing how to […]
I just returned from a two week visit to many cities in China. The visit confirms that the U.S.has a new and powerful competitor that has 1.3 billion people focused on economic success. Reading about China and imagining isn’t enough. You must go and see.China is a series of contrasts but one thing is certain, […]
The 3rd entry in this series on organizational transformation using lean comes again,under the rubric of Process:Transparency is one of the keys to improvement but there are critical core characteristics of implementation that can make or break success. Admitting mistakes is not easy. Look at the problems Toyota is dealing with because of their […]
