One thing I like about Facebook is the way it reminds you about things that happened on this date in previous years. Facebook is reminding me these days about different milestones related to the publication of the book Healthcare Kaizen that…
It's been just over six years since I joined the team at KaiNexus, serving in various capacities over that time. As I like to say, even though I don't work full time with the company, I have a full commitment to the company, the team, and their approach.
The company has grown by leaps and bounds, adding customers not just in healthcare, but in other industries. You can read more about our aggregate customer results here. Recently, our customers just crossed the threshold of a combined one million hours of labor time saved, in addition to over $250 million in financial impact... in addition to quality, safety, customer and employee satisfaction improvements.
Back in 2011, I interviewed the CEO and co-founder of KaiNexus, Dr. Greg Jacobson:
Mark’s Note: Today’s guest post was written in partnership with the Society for Health Systems, an organization I highly recommend to those who work in healthcare improvement. I recommend and participate in their annual conference and I hope you’ll join…
Thanks everybody for reading my blog here in 2017! It’s been an interesting year on the blog, as usual, and I appreciate you taking time out of your busy lives to read and participate in the discussion. I hope this site will continue…
In today's post, I look back at my 2011 interview with Eric Ries about his book "The Lean Startup." I share a new PDF summary of the discussion along with some excerpts from the book that cite W. Edwards Deming and Taiichi Ohno. I'll be speaking at the annual Lean Startup Week event this year (and this post contains a link that will save you 15%). His next book, "The Startup Way," looks at how bigger companies like GE and Toyota can use Lean Startup methods to bring new products to market more effectively...
In this post, I share some thoughts and build upon one of the presentations at last week's Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, where, Tim Pehrson, a regional CEO for Intermountain Healthcare, talked about how they piloted a continuous improvement process in one region... and how they're now spreading it throughout the system. This leads to confusion, in online discussion, about terms like projects, suggestions, ideas, and such...
How big is the opportunity for improvement in healthcare? As Dr. Toussaint’s hand gesture, above, indicates… it’s a huge opportunity. There’s a huge need. What’s the best way to improve during increasingly challenging and uncertain times? Engage everybody in improving…
On Saturday, I visited a clinic housed in a retail pharmacy... my symptoms turned out to be caused by an ear infection. The nurse practitioner ended up explaining some symptoms of a poorly-implemented IT system and what sounds like some other management dysfunctions. I jokingly offered to bill her for a counseling session.
I’m at the 8th annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit in Palm Springs, California. Follow on Twitter using the hashtag #HCSummit2017. If you’re here at the event, please say hello! I love meeting blog readers and podcast listeners. I’ll be adding…
Today's reader question comes from somebody who has been put in the position of what I call "the lone wolf" in a health system. This happens a lot. A health system hires or designates one person to be "the Lean change agent." It doesn't matter how amazing and/or experienced this individual is... I'd very skeptical about the organization's Lean journey.
It's good that United's CEO has taken responsibility for system problems. It's great that they are changing some policies. But why does he say they don't have a culture problem if employees aren't empowered? That sounds like "culture" and a "problem" to me.
A returning guest today for episode #280 is John Dyer, president of his consulting firm, JD&A, Inc., and a contributor for IndustryWeek.com. Today, our focus is the famed "Red Bead Experiment." We'll talk about it, he'll share memories of Dr. Deming facilitating this, and we'll both share and discuss our reflections and our experiences with this, and the lessons learned.
