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Greetings!
Thanks for your interest in the Healthcare Value Leaders Network. This is the first email update from our partnership between the Lean Enterprise Institute and the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value.
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What is the Network Doing?
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Our first Network members are participating in "gemba-based" meetings that rotate through different member sites. These sessions allow first-hand observation of that member's best lean practices and management methods, including the Strategy Deployment process that was demonstrated and shared at ThedaCare during our first meeting in June. Learning opportunities such as these are part of the unique value of the Network.
The Network has also formed a private online collaboration site that allows continuous networking and education for individuals from our member organizations. The site helps connect people who are working on similar lean challenges and also allows them to share files, photos, and videos in addition to online discussion forums and affinity groups.
The Network has initiatives in the following areas:
- Gemba Learning: conduct structured visits each year at different member sites.
- Measurement: develop and report a set of comparable measures across all Network organizations specifically focused on customer value.
- Assessment: create a standard methodology to assess progress on an organization's lean journey
- Education: foster peer-to-peer relationships and learning through online collaboration.
- Public Policy: inform government and political leaders about how to help support healthcare value.
John Toussaint, M.D., CEO of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value has posted The Center's public policy statement here (PDF file).
We will share more details about these efforts in future emails.
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| Future Network Opportunities: |
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After our announcement in June, we were contacted by many healthcare organizations who want to participate in the Network.
Rather than double the existing Network, we are forming a second parallel Network of 15 organizations that will begin in early 2010. Keeping the size of each Network small enhances the relationships and educational opportunities.
The Networks will be tied together in a number of ways, including our annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit that will also be open to the general lean healthcare community. For more information, visit our website.
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Healthcare Value Leaders Website Resources:
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Since our initial announcement back in June, we have additional information on our partnership website and a Resources section that includes links to articles, research, videos, and more about healthcare improvement.
Some recent news items involving Network members include:
- ThedaCare was featured in a Fox News Channel story about their cost and quality improvements, as well as staff and patient involvement in the ThedaCare Improvement System. You can view exclusive online videos (over 30 minutes, much of which did not air).
- Park Nicollet CEO David Wessner wrote a blog piece on using Lean methods to reduce patient falls.
- John Toussaint, M.D., was published in Health Affairs. If you do not normally have access, you can read the article, for free, by accessing it via the link on our page.
- USA Today featured a number of hospitals from across the United States in a recent article about lean in healthcare.
- Gundersen Lutheran was highlighted as a "model of efficiency" for their improvement efforts and results.
For more news from the Network and the wider lean healthcare world, visit our site and use the "Resources" drop down menu.
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