Providers Sharing Lean Techniques to Maximize Healthcare Value by Minimizing Waste
<0> Premier healthcare alliance, 704-816-5797 </0>
Premier healthcare alliance hospitals and health systems have formed a new collaborative to optimize performance and deliver sustainable, standardized care.
Coined to describe Toyota's business during the late 1980s, the term "lean" means to maximize value by minimizing waste. The ™ integrates lean methods with best practices and detailed data to help providers deliver excellent outcomes at minimal cost. Being lean is not only a technical process change but also a cultural change in how people think about their work.
“For close to a decade, healthcare has looked to Toyota for best practices, with many providers actively employing these principles. But as a whole, the healthcare system has yet to find its way,” said Carolyn Scott, RN, M.ED, MHA, Premier service line vice president of Performance Partners. “Our industry remains far from consistent, and variation and waste continue to be major problems. Defining the most intensive areas of waste and sharing best practices to reduce it are integral first steps toward the ultimate goal of total waste elimination.”
Using these principles, Premier member Alamance Regional Medical Center improved its cash flow by $600,000 per month through the alignment of resources to demand, elimination of rework and coding automation. Hear more about their story .
Premier has defined new standards of care in various performance improvement collaboratives with the most advanced health systems in the nation, including . Supported by the largest compilation of clinical and operational data, QUEST members have saved $9.1 billion and 92,000 lives over 4.5 years.
Lean Collaborative members can leverage this proven experience from industry leaders and new ideas from organizations at all stages of their lean journey. The program enables knowledge transfer through social networking, peer benchmarking and educational events.
Additional benefits include:
Premier is the nation’s largest performance improvement alliance of more than 2,800 U.S. hospitals and 93,000 other sites using the power of collaboration and technology to lead the transformation to coordinated, high-quality, cost-effective care. Owned by healthcare providers, Premier operates a leading purchasing network with nearly $5 billion in annual savings. Premier also maintains clinical, financial and outcomes databases based on 1 in every 4 patient discharges. A world leader in measurably improving patient care, Premier has the largest performance improvement collaboratives in America, including one in partnership with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has an office in Washington. . Stay connected with Premier on , and .