What drives your teams to provide quality and value to each patient every day? How do you define those responsibilities and translate them to individual initiatives, departments and staff members? How does anyone know that you are making progress? Simple as these questions are, many healthcare organizations don’t ask them. They set goals, but they don’t have a structure to help them follow through effectively. As a result,...
Vision and Alignment in Healthcare: An...
Recent Blog Posts
Respect for People: A Building Block for Engaged...

Virginia Mason’s Respect for People initiative has been a decade-long program designed to sustain a culture of respect across the health system including training...

The Health Care Executive’s Role in Addressing...

I have been a health care leader at Virginia Mason Health System for over 30 years, as well as an executive sensei to other health care organizations. It has been...

Leadership and Improvement During Disruption:...

We are seeing an air of hope as healthcare continues to play a critical public role toward managing the impacts and ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The...

Vaccination Flow 101: Three Fundamentals for...

We are hearing again and again that now is the time to look back to the fundamentals of process improvement as we face ongoing challenges related to COVID-19. Now...

Which Is Better for Engaging Health Care Staff:...

In my work with health care organizations, I’m sometimes asked about the differences between lean and Six Sigma. They’re two different philosophies, but people...

Learning Through Crisis: After Action Review and...

Our healthcare partnerships across the globe have afforded us a broad and relevant perspective on how diverse healthcare systems have responded to the challenges of...

Embracing Virtual Facilitation to Remove...

In the COVID-19 pandemic era, healthcare organizations around the world are finding themselves scratching their heads about how to practice continuous improvement,...

How a Culture of Improvement Powered Health...

Organizations across the NHS have had to make fast and drastic changes in response to COVID-19. Yet two health systems have been particularly effective at adapting...

How an Improvement System is Helping North Shore...

Our recent blogs have focused on stories of how we have used our management system, the Virginia Mason Production System® (VMPS) during the COVID-19 response at...

Selected Resources

Healthcare Improvement Insights

Explore articles, case studies, and research that help healthcare leaders drive sustainable improvement.

Mistake-Proofing Primary Care

Mistake-Proofing Primary Care

Start Your Lean Health Care Journey Learn More Problem Virginia Mason recognized that mistakes and ...

Mistake-Proofing Primary Care

Start Your Lean Health Care Journey Learn More Problem Virginia Mason recognized that mistakes and ...

Why a Midwest Health System Went to Virginia ...

Why a Midwest Health System Went to Virginia ...

“The fact that Virginia Mason is driven by the same purpose we are – serving patients and ...

Why a Midwest Health System Went to Virginia Mason Institute for Help

“The fact that Virginia Mason is driven by the same purpose we are – serving patients and ...

Managing Phone Calls in Primary Care

Managing Phone Calls in Primary Care

Problem Responding to patient phone calls at Virginia Mason consumed a great deal of clinic time ...

Managing Phone Calls in Primary Care

Problem Responding to patient phone calls at Virginia Mason consumed a great deal of clinic time ...