Here is a video from the St. Louis Beacon (actually, an NPR-style audio story with pictures) about Lean healthcare at Virginia Mason Medical Center, in Seattle, and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, in St. Louis. A few comments on what’s generally an excellent…
It’s great to see Lean mentioned in mainstream healthcare management publications, such as the article in HealthLeaders (print and online) called “Systemwide Process Improvement.” The article highlights one hospital you might know really well, Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center (featured…
In the news yesterday, a General Motors recall over what could be just one isolated steering wheel problem in an Ohio-built Chevrolet (don’t call it Chevy) Cruze. Most news stories, like this one, about the recall just mention that one…
I’m happy to announce some details for a project I’m involved with – Registration is now open for the 2nd annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, produced by the Lean Enterprise Institute and the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, to be…
I found this lengthy series of articles from the Las Vegas Sun, published under the heading of “Do No Harm: Hospital Care in Las Vegas.” The series serves as a good introduction to those who are new to healthcare and…
This is just my second time attending the annual Institute for Healthcare Improvement annual forum – one of about 6,000 medical professionals, leaders, and patient advocates in attendance. For those of you on Twitter, I’ve seen familiar faces here, including…
Hat tip to regular blog reader Andrew B. for letting me know that A17 of today’s New York Times was a full page ad placed by Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center, one of the leading examples of the use of…
I’ve finally started reading the new book by Charles Kenney, Transforming Health Care: Virginia Mason Medical Center’s Pursuit of the Perfect Patient Experience, and I wanted to post a mini-review of the first three chapters. You can also buy (cheaper…
I’m going to use this blog post / page to collect published statistics about the impact the Lean management philosophy has had on healthcare quality and patient safety. I will update this over time and this page can be accessed…
I’m really excited about these two books coming out later this year — both from innovative leading lean healthcare organizations in Seattle. What’s in the water in Seattle? Actually, it’s more a matter of the Boeing influence, with the spread…
One of the books that’s had the biggest impact on my work is Donald Wheeler’s Understanding Variation: The Key to Managing Chaos. It’s the best guide for applying simple and powerful “statistical process control” (or SPC) practices to management data…
TL;DR: The New York Times showed that Lean healthcare isn’t about “factory medicine,” but about removing waste so clinicians can focus on patients. When grounded in respect for people and strong leadership, Lean improves quality, access, and cost–while misapplied versions…
