This past Friday, I was fortunate enough to tour a Healthcare facility who started their transformation journey about 7 years ago.  Their last 5 years have been spent pursuing Lean after their Six Sigma effort did not “stick”, and failed to create improvements that could be sustained.  The first half of the day was spent in the IT area with the CIO and his team observing their operation and hearing their story of transformation.  The afternoon was spent at one of their Hospitals hearing from the leaders about how they created a Lean System and going to the Gembe (walking the process) in; E.R./E.D., Pharmacy and Cardiology, finishing with a view of how they deploy linked objectives from the organization level all the way down to each and every individual.

The design for Affordability in Healthcare was clear; Value = Healthy Community, Customer = Patient Outcome, Cost = Decrease in Expense and reduction of Price.  The IHI (Institute of Healthcare Improvement) has identified this “Triple Aim” for Healthcare Improvement (see ihi.org, Triple Aim).

As it is in every organization, the aim of Affordability is; Value, Customer, Cost.

Paul