I recently saw a tweet that referenced a May 2014 that was sent to President Obama and his administration: “Report to the President – Better HealthCare and Lower Costs: Accelerating Improvement Through Systems Engineering.” The report was written by the “President’s Council…
One of the more trivial things I saw on my recent vacation to Scotland and England was a badly designed toilet on a Virgin train. My wife and I were on our way to Birmingham to do a Range Rover…
The Supreme Court has mainly upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including the individual mandate and other controversial provisions. The court did not throw out the entire law. Congress can no longer penalize states for not expanding Medicaid…
I’m in beautiful Traverse City, Michigan for a few days for the Michigan Lean Consortium annual conference. It’s my home state, so it’s great to see the collaboration around lean healthcare and lean, more generally. Michigan, along with other industrial…
Dr. Donald Berwick (bio), founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, has reportedly named by President Obama to head Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the organization that administers programs including Medicare and Medicaid (“Berwick to be US healthcare…
Keeping things light on a Saturday… New York Magazine has a funny photo story series of President Obama on tours of different factories and laboratories (hat tip to @counternotions on Twitter). The series is called “A History of Obama Feigning…
Here’s something new to try — a way of giving away a copy of my book Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Satisfaction. What percentage of Lean Blog readers are from the U.S. (or at least a U.S.…
I was watching the NBC web series (via iTunes podcasts) called “Ctrl” the other day (I’m a big fan of Tony Hale from the show Arrested Development). Anyway, I saw a scene that reminded me of “bad 5S” practices that…
I’m in New Orleans, presenting this morning at a medical laboratory industry conference, giving a talk about how Lean isn’t just a set of tools or a cost-cutting methodology — it’s a management system, a culture, and (maybe most importantly)…
GM CEO resigns at Obama’s behest – Mike Allen – POLITICO.com (via Drudge) I’ve been calling for Wagoner to resign for years. I wish GM’s board had made this demand long ago, but the board has been packed full of…
Auto briefs | detnews.com | The Detroit News It’s too bad that they can’t talk directly to President Obama and introduce him to the Toyota Way and lean thinking… Toyota Motor Corp. ‘s top-ranking U.S. executive will appear next week…
Breaking: Deming Endorses Obama – IndustryWeek Forums A few people have emailed me about this and it’s easier for me to comment here than it is to register for the IW forums. An interesting idea is posed by Brad Kenney:…