The Lean Prescription Highlights Lean Management As A Proven Solution For Healthcare Delivery Improvement

New book details Denver Health's Lean transformation as an exemplary approach for removing waste, cutting costs and improving care in healthcare

News provided by

Simpler Consulting, L.P.

Oct 28, 2014, 09:00 ET

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Simpler Consulting, L.P., a Truven Health Analytics Company and leading global management consulting firm, today announced the release of a new book: The Lean Prescription: Powerful Medicine for Our Ailing Healthcare System. The book, co-authored by Simpler Senior Advisor and former Denver Health CEO, Dr. Patricia Gabow and former Denver Health Director of Lean Systems Improvement, Philip Goodman, provides an in-depth, first-hand look at how Lean management can be applied to the U.S. healthcare system to eliminate waste, cut costs, engage employees and improve patient care.

The Lean Prescription: Powerful Medicine for Our Ailing Healthcare System Now Available

Co-author, Simpler Senior Advisor and former Denver Health CEO, Patricia A. Gabow MD, MACP

According a recent Institute of Medicine report on healthcare spending, 30 percent ($765 billion) of the $2.7 trillion spent on healthcare in the U.S. in 2009 was wasted on unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, inefficient care delivery, fraud and other wasteful processes and practices. In addition, a study from the Commonwealth Fund released this year ranked the U.S. highest in per capita healthcare spending and the lowest in overall care performance.

"The sad but honest truth is that the U.S. healthcare system is not the best in the world," said Lean pioneer, Dr. Patricia Gabow, who helped lead the charge on Denver Health's Lean transformation as CEO for seven years until her retirement in 2012. "The good news is that American healthcare has the potential to be the best. Lean management is a proven, effective approach to engaging all employees in reducing waste and improving quality, both of which are key in achieving our full potential. I hope The Lean Prescription will convince readers of Lean's powers using Denver Health's successful transformation as a positive example."

Aimed at the full spectrum of healthcare delivery – from hospital CEOs and clinical staff to paramedics and HMOs – The Lean Prescription provides a comprehensive look at how Denver Health utilized Lean to realize nearly $200 million of well-documented, hard financial benefit in just seven years. From leadership's pivotal role in leveraging Toyota Production System principles and techniques for seeing and eliminating waste, to the process of Lean deployment and effectively using the right metrics, Gabow and Goodman walk readers through the Lean journey in its entirety, providing exercises to help readers get their feet wet in Lean along the way.

"I truly believe that Lean is the needed prescription – the powerful medicine – for our ailing healthcare system," said co-author Philip Goodman. "I am confident that any healthcare leader that embarks on Denver Health's journey with us through this book will agree and be inspired to transform their own organization through Lean."

To learn more about The Lean Prescription, please visit: http://www.simpler.com/publications.html.

The Lean Prescription is available on Amazon. To order your copy, please visit: http://amzn.to/1pqxXTC.

About the Authors
Patricia A. Gabow, MD, MACP
Dr. Patricia Gabow was CEO of Denver Health from 1992 until her retirement in 2012, transforming it from a department of city government to a successful, independent governmental entity. She was a member of the Commonwealth Commission for a High Performing Health System and is a member of the Medicaid and CHIP Access and Payment Commission (MACPAC) and the Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Value and Science Driven Health Care. She is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and has authored over 150 articles and book chapters. Dr. Gabow currently serves as Simpler Consulting senior advisor, where she provides critical insight into the healthcare delivery system and strategic guidance to Simpler and its clients as they embark on their Lean journeys.

She received her MD degree from the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine. She has received the AMA Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Public Servant, the Ohtli Award from the Mexican government, the National Healthcare Leadership Award, the David E. Rogers Award from AAMC, the Health Quality Leader Award from NCQA and was elected to the Association for Manufacturing Excellence Hall of Fame for her work on Toyota Production Systems in healthcare.

Philip L. Goodman
As the Director of the Lean Systems Improvement Department at Denver Health from 2006 to 2013, Philip Goodman provided the leadership and management for the core team of Lean facilitators, generating significant improvements to the quality of care for the patients and positive financial impact for the organization. He directed the day-to-day operations of the Lean Systems Improvement Department and the application of Lean principles and tools in a variety of clinical and nonclinical settings across the enterprise. Goodman developed the curriculum for the Denver Health Lean Black Belt training program and The Lean Academy at Denver Health. He was instrumental in representing Denver Health's Lean initiative for process improvement in March of 2011 when it became the first healthcare organization to be awarded the "Bronze Medallion Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence" in recognition of their Lean initiative.

About Simpler Consulting
Simpler Consulting, a Truven Health Analytics Company, is a leading global management consulting firm that helps companies improve processes to stimulate business-impacting results. Unlike traditional management consulting firms that specialize in developing strategy but fall short on execution, Simpler plays an active role helping clients to create an organizational culture that continuously seeks out opportunities to make improvements. With its proprietary Simpler Business System®, Simpler® has delivered the fastest and most enduring Lean transformations at hundreds of organizations around the world. To learn more, visit http://www.simpler.com.