Canadian healthcare program spends big on Kaizen transformation

A government-run healthcare program based in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has made a big investment in helping local hospitals and practices make the switch to Lean healthcare. The province recently inked a $38 million contract with Kaizen consultants to assist in Lean integration over the next four years.

Government officials have wanted to overhaul Saskatchewan Health for a long time, and felt that Kaizen integration was the best way to achieve continuous improvement.

“Our aim is to really bend the cost curve of health care,” Trish Livingstone, director of the ministry's Kaizen promotion office, told The StarPhoenix. “Our costs are growing at a really fast rate in Canada, and our goal is to reduce the curve so it's not rising at such a rapid rate.”

The Lean consultants will help Saskatchewan's 43,000 healthcare workers learn and adapt new mindsets and practices intrinsic to Kaizen. Although the Japanese philosophy of waste removal and elimination was developed for the manufacturing sector, those in the healthcare industry can apply specific parts of it to their processes as well.

“Since 2010, the health ministry has brought in consultants to offer advice on applying Lean principles to tasks like designing the Children's Hospital of Saskatchewan and managing blood products in the province,” the news source adds. “If successful, Saskatchewan would be the first jurisdiction in Canada to introduce Lean to a whole provincial health system, rather than in one health region or to specific projects.”

Developing a Kaizen work environment

There are a number of approaches healthcare organizations can take in terms of developing a work culture that revolves around Kaizen. The key is involving employees, as not only do they have the best knowledge of basic operations, but they are also the ones who will be carrying out new practices and policies.

The North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC) does this by asking employees to submit at least two improvement ideas per year. Decision makers at the healthcare organization actively use this feedback to improve the company, and as many as two out of five ideas are actually implemented. Additionally, the employees who submitted the feedback are rewarded with points that can be redeemed for gifts.

Involve your employees as you look to integrate Kaizen. They form the base of your healthcare operations, and will play a pivotal role in implementing new practices and policies.