Lean savings relating to billing procedures or food service can be easily measured. Savings related to actual patient care can be difficult to quantify. Dr. Chu says the hospital realized a $5 million net savings for all its lean projects. “It is just 1% of the operating budget, but it still helps,” he says.
Lean isn’t the only management system available. Julia Wright, MD, a hospitalist at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison, says her hospital is using a different approach to increase efficiency. “You need a system that can expedite care,” she says. “Lean is one way of doing it, but there are other models, too.”
Her hospital’s solution is a new IT system, with handheld computers into which physicians can enter and access data in real time. “Lean may not be IT-based, but it’s the same bottom line—a way of bringing care to the patient instead of bringing the patient to care,” she explains. That saves patients time. “When we look at patient satisfaction surveys, people get really frustrated with wait times. That’s what angers them,” she says.
As good as lean is, “I don’t think “lean” is [the be-all, end-all solution] to hospital efficiency and quality and safety,” Dr. Kim says. Other systems have come and gone as hospitals seek to rein in costs and improve care. “It’s not the model you choose,” Dr. Kim concludes. “It’s how you look at the model and decide to incorporate it into your hospital.” TH
Carol Berczuk is a medical journalist based in New York.