Can a Healthcare "Lean Sweep" Deliver on What Matters to Patients? Comment on "Improving Wait Times to Care for Individuals with Multimorbidities and Complex Conditions Using Value Stream Mapping"

Abstract

Disconnects and defects in care -such as duplication, poor integration between services or avoidable adverse events -are costly to the health system and potentially harmful to patients and families. For patients living with multiple chronic conditions, such disconnects can be particularly detrimental. Lean is an approach to optimizing value by reducing waste (eg, duplication and defects) and containing costs (eg, improving integration of services) as well as focusing on what matters to patients. Lean works particularly well to optimize existing processes and services. However, as the burden of chronic illness and frailty overtake episodic care needs, health systems require far greater complex, adaptive change. Such change ought to take into account outcomes in population health in addition to care experiences and costs (together, comprising the Triple Aim); and involve patients and families in co-designing new models of care that better address complex, longer-term health needs.

“No Waiting” in the “Waiting Room”: The Self-rooming Patient Pilot Study

“…Additionally, the use of technology has shown various impact on means of delivering health care information to patients, providing additional educational portals for patients, cost and resource utilization, increasing patient engagement, and minimizing workload on clinicians and patients [11-17]. While the relationship between timeliness and patient-centered reported outcomes in various care settings is well studied [18-20], the impact of using mobile technology to provide visit-pertinent information and facilitate patient rooming in the primary care clinic waiting rooms is scarcely reported [17].…”