Buzz words about quality, accountability, pay-for-performance, evidence-based medicine, modernization/automation, workflow optimization, waste reduction, core measures and transparency are heard daily on the campaign trail and in the media. The recent economic crisis has fueled concerns and elevated the urgency of change from a preference to a priority in the minds of Americans.
Everyone wants change for the better, but how we achieve a positive and lasting change is a daunting challenge. Since February I've been working with with RWD Technologies, a firm who advocates of the Toyota Production System (a.k.a. TPS) as the solution of choice to improve quality in health care -- increasing patient safety while reducing costs.
It is no secret that we at RWD Technologies embraced the Toyota Production System (a.k.a. TPS) as the solution of choice a few years ago, sending consultants to Toyota on behalf of Ford Motor company to learn the methodology directly from the source. For more than 15 years, the RWD Lean approach to business process performance has inspired innovation and independence within the culture of organizations at all levels, resulting in long-term, continuous improvement. RWD believes that their approach is one of if not the only systemic solutions proven to enable and empower organizations through a unique, lean approach based on TPS.
As hospitals and healthcare organizations have adopted the RWD TPS solution, they have seen dramatic and profound transformations which have minimized the kinds of “preventable errors” outlined in the new CMS Final Rule while optimizing hospital performance and patient outcomes.
Not only do I see how the collaborative processes has worked for hospitals like St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Baylor Mediccal and others with each visit, individual hospital workers share their own individual contributions and enhancements.
The process is so continuous, that often, the worker supervisor is hearing about the new enhancement for the first time.
On a recent visit to St. Luke's one worker commented about how she applied the inventory management process to her own surgical team, building on what she’d learned from other surgical teams. TPS truly is a marvel, a human-centric process where every step counts and the process is a continuous journey, not merely a destination. It's been an honor to work with RWD to spread the word of how, in these difficult times, the methods Bell Labs brought to Japan that evolved into the Toyota quality process can make an enormous differences to the lives, health and pocket books of American healthcare.
