I recently heard this on a cable news channel that was blaring in the airport: “The current passport processing time is 3 to 6 weeks”. Well, that’s not right from a Lean perspective. In this post, I’ll talk about breaking…
I’m sharing this appeal on behalf of a good Lean friend, Karl Wadensten from VIBCO in Rhode Island. Karl is fired up, rightfully so, because the Rhode Island state legislature has proposed cutting some previously-promised employee training funds. Believe it…
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…
We had a lot of spirited debate last week around the case of the pharmacist who was jailed after the tragic medical-mistake death of a two-year old girl (“A Pharmacist’s Jail Cell Interview – What Good Does Blame Do?“). There…
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…
Obama Awards Budget-Minded Federal Employee I saw this in the news yesterday about a federal employee from the VA, Nancy Fichtner, a clerk at the Grand Junction Veterans Medical Center. President Obama awarded her the “SAVE award,” which stands for…
I had a great opportunity a few weeks back, seeing former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich give a talk at the Ontario Hospital Association annual event in Toronto. I had a chance to meet him briefly and had a…
We had some local Boston news about hospitals reducing infection rates, including dangerous blood stream infections that result from central lines. Several academic medical centers in Boston said the number of ICU patients contracting bloodstream infections had dropped by at…
To Outfox the Chicken Tax, Ford Strips Its Own Vans – WSJ.com If people and organizations are good at anything, it’s gaming a system or finding workarounds. From a recent WSJ article comes a tale of how Ford works around…
Our returning guest is John S. Toussaint, MD, the CEO emeritus of ThedaCare, and CEO of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value. In the interest of disclosure, he is a partner in our Lean Enterprise Institute efforts to promote Lean…
I blogged earlier about the Obama administration’s announcement that the healthcare industry is promising $2 Trillion in savings (reduced cost increases) over the next 10 years. Hooray, we set a goal. The announcements were light on how to do this……
Health-Care Providers Pledge to Try to Curb Costs – WSJ.com Industry reps offer $2 trillion in health savings You’ve likely seen headlines today about a meeting at the White House (ah, more meetings!) where the health care industry has agreed…
