Dive Brief:
- Toyota is taking steps to help hospitals streamline operations, reduce costs and improve patient care and safety.
- Several private hospitals in Seattle and Wisconsin adapted Toyota's system more than 10 years ago, but now safety-net hospitals are looking to improve care with pressure from the ACA.
- The California HealthCare Foundation has funded a project at Harbor-UCLA and four San Francisco Bay Area Hospitals using the car makers' process. So far, changes have had positive results, such as reducing hospital stays and decreasing medication errors. Cost savings have been big - reducing surgery cancellations at the San Mateo Medical Center saved almost a half million dollars.
Dive Insight:
Toyota's 'lean' strategy is founded on small changes that have big impacts, according to Jamie Bonini, vice president of Toyota Production System Support Center, the nonprofit branch that provides consulting services. At the heart of the strategy is a relentless focus on waste reduction and streamlined organization, and Toyota has become so associated with the strategy that it's sometimes referred to as Toyotism.
Results of the strategy at Harbor-UCLA's outpatient eye clinic have been impressive. The average number of new patients seen each day has doubled and time patients spent in the clinic cut in half. Surgeries are being scheduled more quickly.