How Lean management can help in healthcare delivery

Hospitals and healthcare organizations stand to benefit substantially from the implementation of Lean management and process improvement techniques. While such strategies originated in the private sector as a means of improving operational performance and efficiency, healthcare firms are beginning to glean similar benefits from Lean management.

But many organizations fail to take full advantage of these programs due to a misunderstanding of how they work. Researchers at Ohio State University recently found standardized quality management systems are the most effective way for hospitals to meet government mandates related to patient safety.

However, they also noted that such improvements sometimes came at the expense of the quality of the patient experience, which is measured by how patients perceive their personal interactions with healthcare providers and administrators.

“Clinical quality is about doing things correctly – strict guidelines, standardization and checklists, for example – so when you consider experiential quality is about customizing healthcare delivery to an individual patient's needs, there is a tension there,” said Aravind Chandrasekaran, a professor of management sciences at Ohio State and the lead author of the study.