Perfecting Patient Journeys is a guide for leaders of healthcare organizations who want to implement lean thinking. Readers will learn how to identify and select a problem, defi­ne a project scope, and create a shared understanding of what’s occurring in the value stream. Readers will also learn to develop a shared vision of an improved future, and how to work together to make that vision a reality.
Rather than rely on huge training budgets or teams of consultants, the method described in this book focuses on solving real organizational problems, and helps healthcare organizations and those who labor within them to daily provide safe, effective, ef­ficient, and timely patient care.
Judy, a full-time consultant based in Lexington, KY, is a partner in Lean Transformations Group and co-owner of Verble, Worth & Verble. Her practice focuses on organizational development and instructional design. During her career she has worked extensively in a variety of healthcare settings. Judy spent five years as materials developer for the Kellogg-funded Computerized Office Record Review Recertification Project for the American Board of Family Medicine. She has over 20 years of experience as consultant and trainer for many of the federally designated organ and tissue procurement organizations in the United States, and for the last seven years she has worked as a consultant and trainer for the Organ Donation and Transplant Division of the United Kingdom National Health Service, helping them develop UK-wide systems for organ donation and apply/adapt relevant best practices from the U.S. Breakthrough Collaborative on Organ and Tissue Donation. Judy began her lean journey seven years ago when she provided the instructional design for Mapping to See: A Value Stream Improvement Kit for the Office and Services, published by the Lean Enterprise Institute. Since then she has cofacilitated value-stream improvement initiatives in multiple healthcare and other organizations and provided train-the-trainer development for in-house facilitators. Judy holds a BA from Harding College and an MA in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Kentucky.
Tom, a partner in Lean Transformations Group, is a 30-year veteran in various manufacturing environments within General Motors Corp. Tom also spent two years at New United Motors Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI), the GM-Toyota joint venture, working within the Toyota Manufacturing System and performing lean assessments of Toyota facilities in Kentucky and Japan. He has coauthored two books on lean, Value Stream Management and Value Stream Management for the Lean Office, both published by Productivity Press Inc. Tom also is a coauthor of Mapping to See: A Value-Stream Improvement Kit for Office and Service. Tom is also a member of an investment group that purchases small manufacturing firms. As part of this, Tom acted as CEO to guide a Wisconsin firm through a lean transformation, resulting in a remarkable competitive turnaround. Tom is especially energetic in promoting the application of lean principles and tools in non-manufacturing environments, including healthcare (St Mary’s Health Systems, Mayo Clinic, Michigan Hospital Association - Keystone Collaborative), government (City of Grand Rapids, State of Indiana), and financial services (GMAC, Capital One, Vanguard Financial). Tom has a Bachelor of Science degree from Michigan State University and an MBA from Western Michigan University.
Beau began his lean consulting career in the mid-1980s in the automotive industry, transitioned to adapting lean techniques to service and administrative processes in 1992, and has since progressed from implementing tools and techniques to developing and teaching the kind of self-sufficient thinking that challenges work and management processes, improves organizational performance and alignment, and sustains culture change. He now spends half of his time in the healthcare arena where he is designing new ways for organizations to engage, learn, grow, and succeed. In addition to assisting companies in implementing lean strategies, he also trains organizations in a variety of public and private settings. He is currently partner in the Lean Transformations Group and a faculty member and instructor for curricula at the Lean Enterprise Institute, the University of Michigan, and The Ohio State University. Beau is the coauthor of a number of journal articles and the Shingo-prize winning book The Complete Lean Enterprise: Value Stream Mapping for Office and Administrative Processes. He also is coauthor of Mapping to See: A Value-Stream Improvement Kit for Office and Service. Beau holds BSE and MBA degrees from the University of Michigan.
In a 30-year professional career Karl has succeeded as a design engineer, inventor, company president, and consultant. This diverse background provides a unique perspective on the application of lean tools and techniques to help clients create process flow and improve performance. As a company president, he led the lean transformation of an automotive parts supplier. His coaching stresses the importance of management development and employee engagement for a successful change to a lean enterprise. In addition to his work with manufacturing, Karl has had a successful career consulting to the healthcare industry nationally and globally. In that work he has demonstrated the ability to understand and connect with doctors, nurses, and administrators and the passion that they bring to their mission, and has found it particularly rewarding. Karl is a partner in the Lean Transformations Group. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University.
Today, Jim is focusing his efforts on leadership coaching, application of lean in R&D, and application of lean to software development. A partner in the Lean Transformations Group, he currently coaches companies interested in companywide lean transformation and often is asked to reengage companies who have seen a decline in their lean efforts. Jim holds a BS from Tri State University in Electrical Engineering and an MS in computer engineering from Case Western Reserve University.
David has been a performance improvement consultant and leadership coach since 2000. Prior to that, he worked for Toyota in North America for 14 years, first as an internal change agent and later as a manager of human resource development at the plant and North American levels. He has been on the workshop faculty of the Lean Enterprise Institute for eight years and has done presentations and workshops to support a number of the LEI affiliates in the Lean Global Network. David is a partner in the Lean Transformations Group and is based in Lexington, KY, where he works through Verble, Worth & Verble. He has worked with clients in manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and higher education in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. His work has focused on supporting clients in process improvement, development of lean management systems and practices, strategic thinking and problem solving, and leadership coaching for managers and executives. He has a graduate degree in instructional systems and performance technology and training in consulting psychology. David’s primary experience in healthcare has been an eight-year relationship with a hospital in Canada. His other work in healthcare has included projects at Mayo Clinic and University of Michigan Health System.
Kirk has held operations management positions in both high-tech manufacturing and service companies, including National Semiconductor, JDS Uniphase, and Enservio. Kirk has led lean deployments as well as the development of right-sized IT systems in service, healthcare, and manufacturing. He also was a consultant with the TWI Network and Lean Transformations Group where he helped a variety of companies incorporate lean thinking into their frontline operations, back offices, and management systems. Kirk is a faculty member of the Lean Enterprise Institute. He is a codeveloper of LEI's Transformational Leadership workshop and a coauthor of Mapping to See: A Value-Stream Improvement Kit for Office and Service. Kirk has an MBA in Operations and Accounting from the University of Michigan and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Swarthmore College.
Todd has more than 15 years of experience leading continuous improvement in the food, automotive, and healthcare industries. Todd began his career as an industrial engineer, expanding responsibilities to include production supervision, operations management, and continuous improvement management within the automotive and food industries. This diverse experience and hands on implementation have allowed Todd the ability to reach sustainability through floor-level engagement and the development of problem solving at all levels of the organization. In addition to work in manufacturing, Todd has consulted with organizations seeking to implement continuous improvement for over 10 years, including healthcare work in pharmacy, sterile processing, and laboratory operations. Todd has acted as the primary lean training provider for Michigan Technical Education Center in Southwest Michigan since 2002. Todd received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Western Michigan University.