The Promise of Lean in Health Care

Abstract

An urgent need in American health care is improving quality and efficiency while controlling costs. One promising management approach implemented by some leading health care institutions is Lean, a quality improvement philosophy and set of principles originated by the Toyota Motor Company. Health care cases reveal that Lean is as applicable in complex knowledge work as it is in assembly-line manufacturing. When well executed, Lean transforms how an organization works and creates an insatiable quest for improvement. In this article, we define Lean and present 6 principles that constitute the essential dynamic of Lean management: attitude of continuous improvement, value creation, unity of purpose, respect for front-line workers, visual tracking, and flexible regimentation. Health care case studies illustrate each principle. The goal of this article is to provide a template for health care leaders to use in considering the implementation of the Lean management system or in assessing the current state of implementation in their organizations.

Implementing and Improving Automated Electronic Tumor Molecular Profiling

“…10 To address the shortcomings identified in this assessment, we defined a document structure and a data transfer protocol for electronic laboratory reporting. Through an iterative design and testing process that used lean methodology, a postprocessed laboratory report was packaged into a standardized extensible markup language (XML) document that included demographics, ordering information, and the FMI-designated actionable variants that recapitulate the first page of the paper report.…”

Rolling-out Lean in the Saskatchewan Health Care System: Politics Derailing Policy

“…In addition, it begins to involve the public (and draws the attention of the media and the opposition in the legislature) in Saskatchewan's Lean experiment. Though there are a number of examples of single health care facilities employing Lean processes, mostly in the United States and the United Kingdom, Saskatchewan is the first political jurisdiction to attempt to employ Lean processes and methods across an entire, integrated health care system, including not only the bureaucratic and administrative oversight and management of the system, but also the organization, coordination and delivery of care to patients (Kinsman et al 2014;Burgess and Radnor 2013;Toussaint and Berry 2013). Lean would be applied across the board to all health service delivery functions and be the vehicle by which to guide the coordination of care.…”

Lean in the Health Management: An opportunity to improve focus on the patient, respect for professionals and quality in the health services

“…2,5 Estabelece-se o princípio de "fazer mais com menos". A gestão Lean é um sistema integrado de princípios e de ferramentas de base científica voltadas para a análise dos processos e para a redução dos desperdícios, a sincronização e redução de variabilidade nos processos de trabalho (i.e.…”