As of 2014, health care spending in the United States was 17.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS, 2016). This percentage is expected to grow to 20.1% by 2025 (CMS, 2016). Both hospital and physician and clinical expenditures grew in 2014 as well, by 4.1% and 4.6% respectively (CMS, 2016). One way to help mitigate these ever rising costs is by implementing continuous performance improvement (CPI) principles and following Lean quality improvement methodology. According to Spath (2013), Lean quality improvement principles focus only on value-added steps, and center on eliminating waste. Ninety-five percent of what health care providers do every day does not deliver value to their patients (Hagan,
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Looking at Seattle Children’s Hospital and its continuous improvement for over fifteen years, one can see the value in executing Lean principles in a health care facility. Because Lean principles focus on long-term continuous improvement, I believe that it is the best quality management system for health care facilities. Though other systems have value for specific problems (Rapid Cycle Improvement for example to solve a problem quickly), the core of Lean is to eliminate waste, standardize procedures, and promote efficiency and better quality product now and in the future, for the facility as a whole. According to Spath (2013), when Lean projects are successful, more is achieved with less because of the elimination of unnecessary waste. Patients are the cornerstone of health care, and by erasing steps that are of no value to the patient, health care facilities will provide higher quality care, and save both the facility and the patient costs, whether the costs are monetary or not. According to Hagan (2011), “this standard work removes obstacles and glitches (and therefore, waste) that confound clinicians and staff, freeing them to concentrate on the uniqueness of their patients and to focus on patient care instead of contending with wasteful processes
Looking at Seattle Children’s Hospital and its continuous improvement for over fifteen years, one can see the value in executing Lean principles in a health care facility. Because Lean principles focus on long-term continuous improvement, I believe that it is the best quality management system for health care facilities. Though other systems have value for specific problems (Rapid Cycle Improvement for example to solve a problem quickly), the core of Lean is to eliminate waste, standardize procedures, and promote efficiency and better quality product now and in the future, for the facility as a whole. According to Spath (2013), when Lean projects are successful, more is achieved with less because of the elimination of unnecessary waste. Patients are the cornerstone of health care, and by erasing steps that are of no value to the patient, health care facilities will provide higher quality care, and save both the facility and the patient costs, whether the costs are monetary or not. According to Hagan (2011), “this standard work removes obstacles and glitches (and therefore, waste) that confound clinicians and staff, freeing them to concentrate on the uniqueness of their patients and to focus on patient care instead of contending with wasteful processes