Virginia Mason Institute - Lean Healthcare Solutions

News

Our work and results have been featured in many news articles:

• Using Lean to Improve Medication Administration Safety: In Search of the 'Perfect Dose', The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, May 2013
• Health Care's 'Dirty Little Secret': No One May Be Coordinating Care, Kaiser Health News, April 30, 2013
• Study: Virginia Mason Reduces Drug Administration Errors 72.8%, Becker's Hospital Review, April 30, 2013
• Patient safety lessons from lean manufacturing, Hospital Impact Blog, April 29, 2013
• Inside E Street, April 24, 2013 “Why Virginia Mason Medical Center could now be a model for preventing hospital errors” This video follows VM’s journey to become one of the safest hospitals in America. It supplements AARP’s recent magazine article, “Lessons From America’s Safest Hospitals,” which also prominently featured VM.
• Cardiac treatment improves after taking page from Toyota playbook, American Medical News, April 8, 2013
• A new workflow: A hospital makes a process used to build cars work for patient rounds, Today's Hospitalist, April 2013
• Lessons From America's Safest Hospitals, AARP The Magazine, April/May 2013
• The pathway to higher quality and lower costs is the same, Hospital Impact, March 18, 2013
• Using Lean Methods to Improve Surgical Instrument Processing, Infection Control Today, March 5, 2013
• Hospital design follows "lean" trend for more efficiency, comfort (slide show), Puget Sound Business Journal, March 4, 2013
• Through the Eyes of the Workforce: Creating Joy, Meaning, and Safer Health Care, Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation, March 4, 2013
• It will take teamwork to tame health costs, leaders say at Health Care of the Future event, Puget Sound Business Journal, March 1, 2013
• Live stream: PSBJ Health Care of the Future event brings together top area industry CEOs, Puget Sound Business Journal, March 1, 2013
• Hospital building boom comes to an end, Puget Sound Business Journal, March 1, 2013
• The State of Our Union, PBS NewsHour, Feb. 8, 2013
• Are We on the Way to a Real ‘Learning Health Care System’?, Managed Care Magazine, February 2013
• Ten Strategies To Lower Costs, Improve Quality, And Engage Patients: The View From Leading Health System CEOs, HealthAffairs, February 2013
• Health Care of the Future: Problems could be fixed by 2018, Puget Sound Business Journal, Feb. 1, 2013
• Virginia Mason Medical Center CEO touts innovation, Issaquah Press, Jan. 29, 2013
• Nurse Practitioner–Staffed Clinic At Virginia Mason Improves Care And Lowers Costs For Women With Benign Breast Conditions, Health Affairs, January 2013
• Japanese car maker inspires drive to boost efficiency at NHS Highland, Dec. 5, 2012
• A lean hospital:Virginia Mason Medical Center, The Operations Room, Nov. 5, 2012
• Hospital Workers, Flu Shots & Standardized Work, Lean Blog, Nov. 26, 2012
• The Lean Approach to Health Care: Safety, Quality, and Cost, IOM Commentary, Nov. 16, 2012
• A Production System for Health Care, Press Ganey Partners, Sept./Oct. 2012
• What Virginia Mason Learned From Toyota, Leadership E-Bulletin, September 2012
• What do whipped cream, hospital patients, luggage and jet parts have in common?, Puget Sound Business Journal, September 24, 2012
• IOM Urges 10 Major Healthcare Fixes, HealthLeaders, Sept. 7, 2012
• Raigmore calls in US experts, The Iverness Courier, Sept. 7, 2012
• Medical Errors Harm Huge Number of Patients, U.S. News & World Report, Aug. 28, 2012
• Virginia Mason CEO Gary Kaplan: Learning management from Boeing, Japan, Puget Sound Business Journal, Aug. 13, 2012
• Questions for Dr. Gary Kaplan, Puget Sound Business Journal, Aug. 10, 2012
• Virginia Mason Medical Center CEO discusses eliminating waste, transforming health care, Center News & Updates, Aug. 9, 2012
• Adding Value to Healthcare by Eliminating Waste: Q&A With Virginia Mason Medical Center CEO Dr. Gary Kaplan, Becker's Hospital Review, July 20, 2012
• Waste Not, Want Not: Inside the Virginia Mason Production System, Radiology Business Journal, July 10, 2012
• You don't "do Lean", Not Running a Hospital, July 7, 2012
• Virginia Mason recognized for cutting costs in new book, Puget Sound Business Journal, June 25, 2012
• Marshaling Leadership for High-Value Health Care, JAMA Viewpoint, June 5, 2012
• Treating You Better for Less, The Newyork Times, June 3, 2012
• AAMC Readiness for Reform: Innovations in Care Delivery Case Study — Virignia Mason, Association of American Medical Colleges, April 16, 2012
• One Idea for Reducing Healthcare Costs: Healthcare Marketplace Collaboratives, MedCity News, March 27, 2012
• Patient safety draws national, local experts to NavHosp Jax, The Florida Times-Union, March 7, 2012
• The Toyota Experience, Health Service Review (UK), March 1, 2012
• Health Providers Wake Up to Customer Service, FoxBusiness.com, Feb. 24, 2012
• Inside a Leapfrog Group Top-Ranked Hospital, HealthLeaders Media, Dec. 13, 2011f
• Virginia Mason Medical Center Named Top Hospital, ExecutiveInsight, Dec. 12, 2011
• Admitting medical errors leads to reduced liability costs, Business Insurance, Dec. 11, 2011
• A World-Class System for Spreading Improvement, IHI's 23rd Annual National Forum, Dec. 7, 20f11.
• Virginia Mason CEO Gary S. Kaplan MD Senate Testimony, United States Senate, Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Nov. 10, 2011
• 10 Years Later: Virginia Mason Production System Still Going Strong, Hospital Review, September 21, 2011
• At Virginia Mason, Collaboration Among Providers, Employers, And Health Plans To Transform Care Cut Costs And Improved Quality, Health Affairs, Sept. 2011
• Nursing's Top Priority: Patient Safety, ADVANCE for Nurses, June 7, 2011
• 99% Invisible-30-The Blue Yarn, 99% Invisible, June 2011
• Seeing your company's problems through fresh eyes, The Globe and Mail, May 10, 2011
• US Hospitals Turn to Toyota for Management Inspiration, Voice of America News.com, May 3, 2011
• Systemwide Process Improvement, Health Leaders Media, April 14, 2011
• Conversations on Health Care, Community Health Center Inc., Conversations on Health Care, April 20, 2011
• Health care change, one company at a time, Puget Sound Business Journal, Feb. 8, 2011
• Virginia Mason Clinical Transformation: Hard Work Big Payoff, Health Affairs Blog, Feb. 7, 2011
• As Industry Automates, Adverse Events Continue to Haunt Caregivers, Health Data Management Magazine, Feb. 1, 2011
• Dr. Gary S. Kaplan: Determined Steps to Transformation, ethix, Business Technology Ethics, Jan.11, 2011
• Virginia Mason's Groundbreaking Journey to the New Healthcare, Healthcare Informatics Magazine, January 2011
• Recommended Reading for Health-Care Executives, The Wall Street Journal Health Blog, Dec.  21, 2010
• Providers share innovative care ideas with new CMS center, Government Health IT Magazine, Dec. 17, 2010
• Notes from my first day at IHI 2011, Lean Blog.org, December 2010
• Virginia Mason Mentions Learnings from Toyota in Full-Page NY Times Ad, Lean Blog.org, Dec. 6, 2010
• Virginia Mason named Top Hospital of the Decade by The Leapfrog Group, Video KOMO 4 News, Nov. 30, 2010
• Mini-Review: First Three Chapters of the Virginia Mason Medical Center Lean Book, Lean Blog.org, Nov. 30, 2010
• Quality care follows when health professionals collaborate, AMA Leaders Commentary, Oct. 18, 2010
• The Green Washington 2010 Winners, Seattle Business Magazine, October 2010
• 4 People You Should Know, iSixSigma magazine, September/October 2010
• "This Is About Changing the Way We Lead", HHN Magazine, September 2010
• Health Summit showcases cutting waste, Crain's Detroit Business website, Sept. 28, 2010
• Speeding Drug Delivery With 'Lean' Management Tools, Pharmacy Practice News, March 2010
• A Carmaker As A Model For A Hospital?, CBS Evening News, June 2009
• Virginia Mason's new hospital designed for care transformation, Seattle Times, January 2009
• Seeking Perfection in Health Care, Healthcare Executive, May 2008
• To Build a Better Hospital, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 2008
• Reducing Waste in US Health Care Systems, JAMA, February 2007 
• Virginia Mason Medical Center, Harvard Business School, Oct. 2005. Abstract only. Purchase required for full text.
• Toyota Assembly Line Inspires Improvements at Hospital, Washington Post, June 2005
• Virginia Mason Establishes VM Institute

External Recognition:
Since implementing the Virginia Mason Production System, Virginia Mason's innovative quality improvement work has been recognized by external organizations and honored with many awards including:

• The Leapfrog Group
• American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association
• HealthGrades
• Eisenberg Award
• Qualis Awards of Excellence for Patient Safety
• National Committee for Quality Assurance
• Seattle Magazine
• Seattle Metropolitan magazine

A complete list of Virginia Mason's awards and recognitions is available on the Virginia Mason Medical Center website.