Sustaining Lean in Healthcare

A super overview of Lean process improvement for any healthcare leader. A focused approach to Lean that will engage the physician audience. The book will be an excellent one as preassignment reading for a Leadership Development Institute that focuses on Lean and for the organization getting ready to embark on a Lean journey, particularly if they want greater physician engagement. ... It could be particularly effective if used as a book club format for physician leaders in an organization as a way of energizing them. The book has good follow-up exercises that demonstrate key points. Dr. Nelson has researched the material thoroughly. The book has very specific medical practice and hospital examples. ... Outstanding... I highly recommend this book. —Lynne Cunningham, Senior Coach, The Studer Group

Over the past two decades Lean Operations has made several significant runs in healthcare. The first attempts, with a few notable exceptions, lost momentum and were not sustainable because the incentives always seem to be misaligned. In this book, Dr. Nelson draws on his forty years of medical practice and his experience as an early adopter of Lean for healthcare, to identify a crucial piece to aligning healthcare organizations for success; Physician Engagement. It’s my experience that Lean methods work on processes in all industries, but nowhere is the human element more critical to their success than healthcare, and no one role is more critical than the Physician. Healthcare executives and clinicians will appreciate and learn from Dr. Nelson’s insight.—Robert Iversen, Director, Accenture Management Consulting

Of the many books written about Lean journeys, Mike Nelson’s book offers a unique perspective. A physician himself, Mike focuses on the role he and his colleagues can play in creating and sustaining a Lean environment. He speaks from first-hand experience, having taken his own Lean journey and playing a key role in the quality aspect of a highly successful ValuMetrix® Services Lean engagement. His book clearly illustrates a fact that is all-too-often often overlooked – physicians must be included in any Lean engagement, since they are true enablers of change and are critical to sustaining the transformation. Instead of writing another how-to book, Mike has taken the opportunity to provide insights that are sure to help any healthcare organization sustain the impact of its Lean engagement.—Rick Malik, Worldwide Director, ValuMetrix® Services, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics

Nelson does Lean healthcare a service as a physician and Lean practitioner focusing on engaging the physician. In this valuable resource, Nelson stresses and supplies guidance regarding the role of physician champion, and senior management’s responsibilities to the Lean initiative. As importantly, he provides realistic estimates of timelines for projects, expected satisfaction, quality, and financial paybacks, as well as for the time commitments required for Lean healthcare initiatives to become durable successes.—David Mann, PhD, Principal, David Mann Lean Consulting

Nelson’s great service in this book is to approach Lean healthcare from the practitioner’s perspective and provide a very valuable and thoughtful approach which simplifies and organizes the steps needed to effectively and successfully take advantage of the significant contributions Lean management can make to their practices with the minimum expenditure of time and financial resources.—Edward D. Martin, MD, Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Martin Blanck & Associates, Inc.

Over the years, I have read a number of books on Lean implementation. Dr Nelson's approach is clear, practical, easy to read and prescriptive. Efficient use of resources and time are some of the most important directives for leaders to survive in these reforming times. Lean has become a critical predictor of successful systems going forward. Sustaining Lean in Healthcare is the book to get this done. Well done, Dr. Nelson. I learned a ton.—Stephen C. Beeson MD, Author of Practicing Excellence, A Physician's Manual to Exceptional Health Care & Engaging Physicians, A Manual to Physician Partnership