Paul O’Neill Talks ThedaCare, Lean Healthcare on CNBC September 20, 2012
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, lean.Tags: healthcare, lean
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Mark Graban over at LeanBlog shares a video from CNBC of Paul O’Neill talking about cleaning up healthcare. The root problem is a systems problem, not a problem traceable to individuals. Better systems and improved processes will ultimately raise the excellence of the workforce.
Unfortunately, the CNBC host spends too much time up front talking about his unignorable microphone and cuts off the former Treasury Secretary, CEO, and obvious Lean Thinker in the middle of a coherent response.
To see the video, and read Graban’s analysis, head here.
A Wristband that Forces Doctors to Wash their Hands and Save Lives September 20, 2012
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, Mistake Proofing.Tags: healthcare, mistake-proofing
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A new wristband, secured around the wrists of doctors and medical personnel, aims to cut down on hospital acquired infections and illnesses –much of it from the failure of medical professionals to commit simple tasks, such as washing their hands. The new wristband system, Hyginex, consists of soap dispensers and wristbands, alerting doctors when they either have not washed their hands, or haven’t washed them well enough. The system will also keep a log of doctors and how well they clean their hands.
For photos of the system, and more information, head here.
ThedaCare’s “Business Performance System” – and a 10% Target February 27, 2012
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in change management, healthcare, lean.Tags: change management, healthcare, lean
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Mark Graban speaks about the book On the Mend: Revolutionizing Healthcare to Save Lives and Transform the Industry by John Toussaint in a blog post at Lean Blog. Mark highlights the lean efforts of ThedaCare in a blog post by Toussaint as well, including the failure of achieving their goal of increasing productivity by 10% annually. This caused a period of intense self-reflection, and importantly, ThedaCare did not blame its employees but rather their system of management.
To read Mark’s post, head on over here.
Data Without Context Isn’t Very Helpful; Don’t Overreact to Each Up & Down December 18, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare.Tags: healthcare
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Mark Graban, writing over at LeanBlog, has some cautionary and some reassuring thoughts for readers. He says that reacting to data without understanding context is not helpful at all. He cites an example of hospital quality panel score where the Year-to-Date Actual is 3.58, while the Year-to-Date Target was 3.59. At face value, it is a failure to reach the target. But he cites that missing elements include what a quality panel is, what the best score is, how this score compares to other hospitals, and other keys for establishing context and turning the data into useful information.
Check out Mark’s helpful and informative thoughts here.
Data Without Context Isn’t Very Helpful; Don’t Overreact to Each Up & Down December 18, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare.Tags: healthcare
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Mark Graban, writing over at LeanBlog, has some cautionary and some reassuring thoughts for readers. He says that reacting to data without understanding context is not helpful at all. He cites an example of hospital quality panel score where the Year-to-Date Actual is 3.58, while the Year-to-Date Target was 3.59. At face value, it is a failure to reach the target. But he cites that missing elements include what a quality panel is, what the best score is, how this score compares to other hospitals, and other keys for establishing context and turning the data into useful information.
Check out Mark’s helpful and informative thoughts here.
Lean Healthcare featured on PBS Nightly Business Report November 17, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, Lean Thinking.Tags: healthcare, Lean Thinking
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Mark Graban highlights that PBS Nightly Reports recently featured a segment on lean healthcare. Despite some generalizations (e.g., that factories are all dusty and dirty), the report focuses on the shift of ideas back and forth across the Pacific to Japan and to America. The report also notes that approximately 25% of hospitals are currently using lean.
Check out the Lean Blog post, and a video, here.
Lean Healthcare featured on PBS Nightly Business Report November 17, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, Lean Thinking.Tags: healthcare, Lean Thinking
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Mark Graban highlights that PBS Nightly Reports recently featured a segment on lean healthcare. Despite some generalizations (e.g., that factories are all dusty and dirty), the report focuses on the shift of ideas back and forth across the Pacific to Japan and to America. The report also notes that approximately 25% of hospitals are currently using lean.
Check out the Lean Blog post, and a video, here.
Maryland’s Healthcare Solution: Regulate Prices November 17, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in government, healthcare.Tags: government, healthcare
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In Maryland, healthcare prices are regulated by the state. For the most part, according to Quality News Today, this keeps the healthcare system financially solvent. It also helps to keep prices low, in terms of both healthcare and health insurance.
Check out the Quality News Today article here.
Maryland’s Healthcare Solution: Regulate Prices November 17, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in government, healthcare.Tags: government, healthcare
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In Maryland, healthcare prices are regulated by the state. For the most part, according to Quality News Today, this keeps the healthcare system financially solvent. It also helps to keep prices low, in terms of both healthcare and health insurance.
Check out the Quality News Today article here.
The Positive Trend of “Lean Design” of Space & Processes in Healthcare November 17, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, lean.Tags: healthcare, lean
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Mark Graban writes in his Lean Blog that he is happy that lean is taking root in hospitals, especially over the last few years. Lean at hospitals – when it is done right - is patient-centered and staff-friendly. Mark provides a wealth of links and videos relating to successful lean hospital processes, news, and writing.
Take a look at his post here.
The Positive Trend of “Lean Design” of Space & Processes in Healthcare November 17, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, lean.Tags: healthcare, lean
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Mark Graban writes in his Lean Blog that he is happy that lean is taking root in hospitals, especially over the last few years. Lean at hospitals – when it is done right - is patient-centered and staff-friendly. Mark provides a wealth of links and videos relating to successful lean hospital processes, news, and writing.
Take a look at his post here.
“Why Your Hospital Should be Like a Factory… Or At Least Some…” June 2, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, Lean Thinking.Tags: healthcare, Lean Thinking
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Mark Graban over at Lean Blog notes that there is a lot of antipathy towards the idea of a hospital being like a factory. Imagination conjures up images of cold, dark, heartless rooms and people. Among the ways healthcare can benefit by modeling itself after a lean factory include focusing on safety, providing support systems that allow workers to focus more time on patients, and engaging everyone in improvement discussion.
Read Mr. Graban’s blog post here.
“Why Your Hospital Should be Like a Factory… Or At Least Some…” June 2, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, Lean Thinking.Tags: healthcare, Lean Thinking
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Mark Graban over at Lean Blog notes that there is a lot of antipathy towards the idea of a hospital being like a factory. Imagination conjures up images of cold, dark, heartless rooms and people. Among the ways healthcare can benefit by modeling itself after a lean factory include focusing on safety, providing support systems that allow workers to focus more time on patients, and engaging everyone in improvement discussion.
Read Mr. Graban’s blog post here.
Lean Mindsets for Healthcare April 20, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in customer focus, healthcare, lean.Tags: customer focus, healthcare, lean
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In a wide-ranging blog post, Mark Graban, on his Lean Blog, talks about speaking at the Lean Healthcare workshop put on by TechSolve, a non-profit consultancy that teaches process improvement methodologies. In his post, Mark recaps the topics he covered. Among them, lean is profoundly customer (patient) focused. As such, wait times in lobbies should be addressed. Mr. Graban also explained that problems are actually treasure, because they show where improvements can be made.
Check out Mr. Graban’s excellent post here.
Lean Mindsets for Healthcare April 20, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in customer focus, healthcare, lean.Tags: customer focus, healthcare, lean
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In a wide-ranging blog post, Mark Graban, on his Lean Blog, talks about speaking at the Lean Healthcare workshop put on by TechSolve, a non-profit consultancy that teaches process improvement methodologies. In his post, Mark recaps the topics he covered. Among them, lean is profoundly customer (patient) focused. As such, wait times in lobbies should be addressed. Mr. Graban also explained that problems are actually treasure, because they show where improvements can be made.
Check out Mr. Graban’s excellent post here.
Study: Doctors Need Electronic Reminders to Perform Correct Procedures January 10, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare.Tags: healthcare
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Patients often worry about being unnecessarily tested. According to a study conducted by Kaiser Permanente demonstrates that electronic alerts can help doctors avoid unnecessary tests –thereby saving the hospital time, money, and resources. Physicians can find it hard to remember to follow specific guidelines, so computer-generated alerts specifically constructed for a particular patient help them order only necessary tests, and adhere much more fully to guidelines.
Check out the FastCompany article here.
Study: Doctors Need Electronic Reminders to Perform Correct Procedures January 10, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare.Tags: healthcare
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Patients often worry about being unnecessarily tested. According to a study conducted by Kaiser Permanente demonstrates that electronic alerts can help doctors avoid unnecessary tests –thereby saving the hospital time, money, and resources. Physicians can find it hard to remember to follow specific guidelines, so computer-generated alerts specifically constructed for a particular patient help them order only necessary tests, and adhere much more fully to guidelines.
Check out the FastCompany article here.
Don’t Speed Up or Improve a Workaround Process – Fix the System December 13, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, Lean Thinking.Tags: healthcare, Lean Thinking
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Hospitals are usually engaged in a process of correcting errors, so much so that it becomes normal. But patient care quality suffers as a result. Perhaps, Mark Graban wonders, if hospitals should focus on improving that workaround process, or eliminating the need for it. He describes how he used to take a pill to lower his cholesterol, a necessity only because of his personal lifestyle choices. Do workarounds get infinite refills, or do they get specific time frames to root out the cause of the problem?
Check out Mr. Graban’s LeanBlog article here.
Don’t Speed Up or Improve a Workaround Process – Fix the System December 13, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, Lean Thinking.Tags: healthcare, Lean Thinking
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Hospitals are usually engaged in a process of correcting errors, so much so that it becomes normal. But patient care quality suffers as a result. Perhaps, Mark Graban wonders, if hospitals should focus on improving that workaround process, or eliminating the need for it. He describes how he used to take a pill to lower his cholesterol, a necessity only because of his personal lifestyle choices. Do workarounds get infinite refills, or do they get specific time frames to root out the cause of the problem?
Check out Mr. Graban’s LeanBlog article here.
Is Lean the Secret to Curing Healthcare? October 14, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, Lean Thinking.Tags: healthcare, Lean Thinking
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Former ThedaCare CEO and president Dr. John Toussaint thinks so. He’s prescribing Lean to change the culture in healthcare – from shame and blame to using data to make decisions.
ThedaCare Inc., a not-for-profit system of hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and other services in Northeast Wisconsin, has been practicing Lean for more than seven years. Through its use of Lean principles, the organization has seen not only cost savings, but also a drop in patient mortality, after removing wasted time and effort from the cardiac surgery process. Read this interview with Dr. Toussaint about lean lessons learned, the national healthcare debate, and ThedaCare’s progress.
Is Lean the Secret to Curing Healthcare? October 14, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, Lean Thinking.Tags: healthcare, Lean Thinking
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Former ThedaCare CEO and president Dr. John Toussaint thinks so. He’s prescribing Lean to change the culture in healthcare – from shame and blame to using data to make decisions.
ThedaCare Inc., a not-for-profit system of hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and other services in Northeast Wisconsin, has been practicing Lean for more than seven years. Through its use of Lean principles, the organization has seen not only cost savings, but also a drop in patient mortality, after removing wasted time and effort from the cardiac surgery process. Read this interview with Dr. Toussaint about lean lessons learned, the national healthcare debate, and ThedaCare’s progress.
The Red Bead Game Applied to Medical Errors August 12, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, quality, six sigma.Tags: healthcare, quality, six sigma
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Deming’s Red Bead Game – an exercise in process variation and performance measurement – was applied to the healthcare field by the BBC and was presented by Mark Graban over at Lean Blog. Even when odds are identical –all patients having exactly the same chance of dying, and all surgeons having the same surgical skill – chance can wreak havoc. Readers can adjust the chance calculator on the BBC website to understand how chance can impact an organization or event.
Check out the Lean Blog Post here and the BBC article and chance calculator here.
The Red Bead Game Applied to Medical Errors August 12, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, quality, six sigma.Tags: healthcare, quality, six sigma
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Deming’s Red Bead Game – an exercise in process variation and performance measurement – was applied to the healthcare field by the BBC and was presented by Mark Graban over at Lean Blog. Even when odds are identical –all patients having exactly the same chance of dying, and all surgeons having the same surgical skill – chance can wreak havoc. Readers can adjust the chance calculator on the BBC website to understand how chance can impact an organization or event.
Check out the Lean Blog Post here and the BBC article and chance calculator here.
ThedaCare, Lean, and Primary Care in the News July 16, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, Lean Thinking.Tags: healthcare, Lean Thinking
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Mark Graban over at Lean Blog highlights the efforts of, and praise for, ThedaCare – a Wisconsin health care provider – and their lean improvements in their four hospitals. Mr. Graban also brings to light that they are redesigning and improving primary and specialty care. Always aiming for better rather than good enough has led to exceptional standardized exam rooms, onsite lab testing, and centralized nurse and registration centers.
Check out Mr. Graban’s article here.
ThedaCare, Lean, and Primary Care in the News July 16, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in healthcare, Lean Thinking.Tags: healthcare, Lean Thinking
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Mark Graban over at Lean Blog highlights the efforts of, and praise for, ThedaCare – a Wisconsin health care provider – and their lean improvements in their four hospitals. Mr. Graban also brings to light that they are redesigning and improving primary and specialty care. Always aiming for better rather than good enough has led to exceptional standardized exam rooms, onsite lab testing, and centralized nurse and registration centers.
Check out Mr. Graban’s article here.
