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Category Archives: Articles by Dr. Toussaint

John Toussaint’s Monthly Reflections – New Research Shows Lean Thinking is Making a Difference in Healthcare

I am sure at some point in your career you have had to make the argument that lean thinking will work in your healthcare organization. The first time I had this conversation was with my senior executive team some 20 years ago. At that time, I knew we needed to do better but I also […]

Motivate Others to See and Solve Problems Daily

Posted on by CATALYSIS

There is a lot of talk out there about continuous improvement and lean thinking. But, do we know what is really at the core of those methodologies? Dr. John Toussaint and Dr. Christina Dixon join Janet today to dig deep into the core of improvement work. It is no secret that many systems struggle to sustain improvement work beyond […]

Why Haven Healthcare Failed

Haven, the venture to disrupt U.S. health care formed by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase, is disbanding less than three years after its launch. When it was formed, the three companies had a lofty goal: to “provide U.S. employees and their families with simplified, high-quality, and transparent health care at a reasonable cost.” Atul Gawande, the famous author […]

How the Biden Administration Can Make a Public Option Work

By: John S. Toussaint , George Halvorson , Laurence Kotlikoff , Richard Scheffler , Stephen M. Shortell , Peter Wadsworth and Gail Wilensky   Under a plan proposed by President-elect Joe Biden’s camp, Obamacare would be expanded to include a “public option” health plan. Anyone without insurance could be automatically enrolled. In addition, people younger […]

“Better Care Plan”: A Public Option Choice

By: George C. Halvorson, Stephen M. Shortell, Laurence Kotlikoff, Elizabeth Mitchell, Richard M. Scheffler, John Toussaint, Peter A. Wadsworth, Gail R. Wilensky The Biden-Harris health care proposal offers a public option plan for the uninsured and for those who prefer it to alternatives for which they are eligible. We strongly support the features and principles […]

Integrating a Real-Time Information Framework with Daily Management to Improve Flow and Revenue

By: Lucy Xenophon, MD, MPH and John Toussaint, MD Prodigious streams of data flow to health care providers. Patient-experience comparisons, throughput dashboards, length-of-stay and early-discharge data, rates of hospital-acquired conditions, hand-hygiene compliance, mortality, and readmissions are just a few examples. Often, however, these data do not convey the information that is needed to improve the […]

Industry Voices—Epic’s Faulkner and Toussaint: Observational EHR data are helping combat COVID-19

If you are diagnosed at Lee Health in Fort Meyers, Florida, with COVID-19 symptoms, you’ll be given a blood thinner as part of the standard treatment protocol. That’s because Lee’s physicians used the data in their Epic healthcare software to verify early reports linking COVID-19 to blood clots. Their analysis showed that otherwise healthy patients […]

Becoming the Change: A Different Approach to Building Organizational Excellence

Healthcare transformation expert, John Toussaint, explains what he has learned from working with leaders all over the world and how important it is to implement change in order to thrive in an evolving industry. We have learned some valuable lessons in the 20 years we have been either leading or teaching the principles of organizational […]

Innovations in Management from Children’s Mercy in Kansas City

By: Felicity Pino, Shelly Hammer, and John Toussaint, MD Many organizations have developed a daily management that includes stand-up huddles, a huddle board where key metrics are reviewed, and where staff ideas for improvement are captured. Some have also begun using daily status sheets where managers meet with front line staff to understand barriers to […]