Lean Healthcare Tools and Practices

Lean methodology includes a set of tools, principles, and practices that help healthcare and other organizations improve efficiency, and quality, and reduce waste. This course introduces some key Lean tools and concepts used in day-to-day management of healthcare organizations. It overviews Kaizen, POUS, and spaghetti diagrams, and the everyday use and benefits of these tools in healthcare. The course goes on to discuss perhaps the most important Lean tool – Value Stream Mapping, and how it is performed in healthcare. Next, standard work, 5S, and Visual Management are presented, along with healthcare examples and illustrations. Finally, the course offers a real-life case study involving Leading Edge Group consultants applying some of these tools at a large primary care clinic to increase its efficiency and productivity, and to meet patient needs.