The Road to Healthcare Improvement
Healthcare Current State
Firstly the healthcare industry has challenges above and beyond the normal industry. There is an inherent conflict between insurance companies, healthcare providers, doctors, and patients. And, that doesn’t even include diseases like the coronavirus along with future challenges such as single-payer. When will the next pandemic arrive?
Current managers are swamped managing current problems. Managers have been taught to respond in one way, but outside disruptions forced thinking in another way. Single-payer will cause massive disruption, creating winners and losers. Healthcare systems are loaded with fat or what Lean Six Sigma refers to his waist, that slows operations down. New pandemics or the advent of single-payer will create operational challenges to overcome. Preparing for the known is difficult, preparing for the unknown requires robustness and agility.
Healthcare Future State
I highly recommend that owners of healthcare systems look to the benefits of Lean Six Sigma and The Toyota Production System. By engaging in Lean Business and Build Your Toyota Production System and you will consequently bring together the benefits of Lean Six Sigma and the tools of the Toyota Production System to bear on your system.
Some of the benefits of Lean Six Sigma and the operational capabilities of the Toyota Production System are as follows:
- for example, constant defect removal,
- a new system wide culture,
- above all, Profound Knowledge of every process,
- increase the flow through your system,
- subsequently aggressively work with partner suppliers and support them,
- use Healthcare Improvement to create Operational Excellence, a competitive advantage,
- focus on the value you deliver,
- and in short, seek perfection
Take these advantages and benefits to create a Robust and Agile system.
Prepare for More Radical Change
Healthcare, whether insurance companies, hospitals, doctors’ offices, clinics, and so on will change radically with single-payer. Currently, US government spending for healthcare is 23%. How sustainable is that? Single-payer systems operate with Operational Excellence to decrease their costs, increase doctor-patient interactions, eliminate insurance, and focus on the patient experience.
Adopt Rapid System Improvement Change to Healthcare Excellence
Firstly, seek perfection through rapid change. Further Toyota changes by using the ideas of all employees at a rate of about one idea per every employee, per month.
Healthcare administrators have expertise in their field but not in process improvement. Healthcare administrators are administrators, not innovators, such as, shifting the 72% of Emergency Room traffic that does not have an emergency to an “alternate Emergency Room” that is much less expensive to operate. This is healthcare improvement idea is for an Emergency Department:
Innovate
“Transition to a business that loves change” – FitzGerald
Who in the healthcare business can achieve excellence:
- Lean Hospital
- Apply the benefits of the Toyota Production System and subsequently, clobber your competition.
- Lean Health Insurance
- Remove Non-Value Added Activities and therefore process claims faster.
- Lean Clinics/Offices
- Eliminate waiting rooms and flow patients through your office.
- Lean Suppliers
- Implement Just In Time deliveries to build a competitive advantage.
In Conclusion for Healthcare Improvement
Treacy and Wiersema determined that the most successful businesses either focused on Operational Excellence, Customer Intimacy, or Innovation. Lean Six Sigma creates Healthcare Improvement leading to Operational Excellence. My linked website here creates Innovation. Respect your customers and suppliers. Adopt Lean Six Sigma and investigate the operations of the Toyota Production System and become one of the leaders of change, subsequently passing your competitors by. The following button takes you to my website on how to use the tools of the Toyota Production System to create Operational Excellence: