Guest post by Gary S. Kaplan
Across the United States, there are pockets of brilliance in healthcare. But there is too much variability, with unsustainable costs and inconsistent quality.
We need more than pockets of brilliance. We need to expand our definition of brilliance to confront the suffocating costs of healthcare, and focus on an approach that provides little variability, lower costs and consistent quality of care--for every patient, every time.
Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle was the first in the nation to adapt the Toyota Production System as the framework for managing a medical center. We call our version the Virginia Mason Production System (VMPS).
By streamlining repetitive and low-touch aspects of care delivery, our physicians, nurses and other clinical staff members are freed to spend more time talking with, listening to and treating patients. We are discovering it is possible to provide high-quality care with lower resource utilization. >> Read the full blog post at Hospital Impact