Hospital management has the ultimate responsibility of figuring out how to make facilities operate at greater efficiency and higher quality. But under the Lean method, staff members more accustomed to taking orders from their bosses must learn to overcome their trepidation about speaking up and accept responsibility and authority for driving changes in their workplace.
Baylor Scott & White Health, Denver Health, Virginia Mason Medical Center, ThedaCare, Group Health Cooperative, Seattle Children's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Emory Healthcare are among the health systems that have adopted Lean methods to redesign clinical and business processes. The improvements developed by the Lean teams vary, but they generally seek to create standardized protocols, eliminate waste and develop cultures of continuous improvement that allow hospitals to adapt to the changes now sweeping across the healthcare delivery system, driven by incentive programs such as value-based rewards and penalties.
Read Full Article »