It sure seems like Iowa gets mentioned here on the blog quite a bit, for lean manufacturing and lean healthcare.
John Touissant, of ThedaCare (in Wisconsin), is speaking at an Iowa healthcare symposium April 22 (unfortunately, it appears to not be open to the public).
I saw Dr. Touissant speak in the UK last year, he's a very good speaker about lean and healthcare improvement.
John Toussaint, MD, is the Chief Executive Officer of ThedaCare Inc., which is composed of four hospitals, 21 clinics, home care, hospice, senior services, and behavioral health. He has been responsible for introducing the ThedaCare Improvement System, a model of continuous improvement, that is transforming ThedaCare to the same level of quality performance achieved only by manufacturing companies.
Mark Graban
Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker who has worked in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. His latest book is Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More. He is author of the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, as well as The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen. He also published the anthology Practicing Lean that benefits the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation, where Mark is a board member. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.
This is an Iowa Health System event – we have a forum once a year for the leadership teams of our hospitals and clinics. We are fortunate to have Dr. Toussaint as this year’s keynote speaker. I visited ThedaCare in November, and they are doing some very impressive things in healthcare using the Lean philosophy and techniques.