Hospitals and health systems are clinging tenaciously to the belief that their economic survival depends on their embracing continuous quality improvement and Lean methods. After all, in a time of ratcheted-down reimbursement, the need for a little belt-tightening and quality improvement seems obvious.
However, as authors Tyson Browning and Nada Sanders remind us in their book Can Innovation Be Lean?, “Lean practices were pioneered in repetitive production systems characterized by relative stability and certainty.” Though hospitals strive for minimization in variation to create repetitive production systems, there are few things more diverse than a patient’s presentation of illness, just as there are few things less stable or certain than health care.
