There are a lot of outstanding leaders in American healthcare, but, on average, we still get unremarkable results. The answer is simple, management needs to be less about charisma and style, and more about creating managerial systems that standardize brilliance. The ventures couldn’t be higher. We must produce higher-quality, better-integrated care at a lower cost.
In health care practice, our structures are normally too constricted and focused on today’s urgent problem. We respond with checklists, principles, action plans and strategy to improve performance on, say, a significant safety issue. Even when we use lean or Kaizen practices, it’s done in a limited way. Staff members treating patients end up dealing with a pile of disconnected proposals on top of their core responsibilities.
There is something else that needs concentration, but nothing is done to pick up the whole environment. Without a more global organizational viewpoint, we risk cutting costs reactively rather than thoughtfully. And, as we consolidate and build new affiliations, we introduce more cultural variation into the mix, making our institutions more confused and disordered, and generate more crises.
The better way to run healthcare delivery systems is to apply lean philosophy broadly to what and how we do everything. Organizational operating systems that regulate every facet of our work must be created. It means mounting common meeting agendas, uniform daily workflows, cascading communication and reliable use of relevant data across the enterprise.
Part of the task are the problem solving and modernization. The focus must be on the well-defined and clearly articulated objectives, we can create organizations that are well-organized, successful and philosophical of their highest ambitions.
Leading wellbeing systems already use lean ideology to create more economical and focused workplaces and work cultures. The ThedaCare system in Wisconsin is a trailblazer in creating lean management systems. In the foreword to “Beyond Heroes,” the book about ThedaCare’s journey, John Toussaint, M.D., CEO of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, writes, “When lean thinking goes only skin deep and management does not change, improvements cannot be sustained, and savings never quite hit the bottom line.”
New systems must be created to deeply reshape our associations so that we can get the healthcare results that our population deserve. We need a great system to reach our goals for a better healthcare services.