Lean Management (5)


When I talk with health care leaders about lean improvement work, I’m often asked, “How much should I expect to receive as a return?” At Virginia Mason, we don’t focus on financial returns after every event. Instead, we focus on identifying and eliminating waste for the sake of our patients and our staff — which in turn results in long-term financial benefits. In health care, we pay our employees for their time, but how much of...
Measuring Success When the Lean Improvement Work...
Recent Blog Posts
How Can Lean Improvement Work Engage Staff and...

An interview with Cathie Furman, executive faculty member at Virginia Mason Institute When you’re doing lean work, how do you measure ROI? CF: That’s a question we...

Why Is a Value Stream Map Important for...

A value stream map is a visual depiction of a process from a request for a product or services through delivery. At Virginia Mason, we depict this process not from...

Why Adding More Space Isn’t the Only Answer to...

The best health care leaders are always looking for ways to increase quality and run their business more efficiently. To understand their business, they need to...

What Is the Cost of Not Having a Strategic...

When you think about costs in health care, what costs do you think are hurting us the most? EN: To me, the cost of a broken care system to patients and families is...

How a Value Stream Can Help You Produce...

What is a value stream? A value stream is an improvement philosophy, a systemic way of thinking about the flow of delivering quality health care. Providing value to...

Leader Tools to Prevent Medical Errors

What health care leaders can do to reduce the number of medical errors in their organization: It starts with culture. A culture of empowerment enables an...

Three Ways to Achieve a Future of Better Health...

As a physician and teacher of lean health care methods and tools, I’m often part of conversations with my peers about where the future of health care is going....

Glossary of Lean Terminology

3P – Production Preparation Process, a five-day event in which a team focuses on building a production system for a new plant, process or product. 5S – A strategy...

Analyzing the “Big Idea”: Extending the Success...

An Interview with Robert Mecklenburg, MD, Center for Health Care Solutions, Virginia Mason Institute In Harvard Business Review’s article “The Employer-Led Health...

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 ...