Our Team

Philip L. Goodman, MS, RRT

Phil Goodman is the Director of LEAN Systems Improvement at Denver Health, where he has worked since 1979. He has more than 30 years of clinical, administrative, and process improvement experience. With a Masters Degree in Health Care Administration, he earned his LEAN Black Belt in 2005, and since April of 2006, has managed the LEAN Systems Improvement initiative at Denver Health, under the direct supervision of Chief Executive Officer Dr. Patricia Gabow.

Phil has overseen Denver Health's LEAN Journey of Transformation since its inception in 2005, a program which has generated more than $124M in financial benefit. He is a “Denver Health LEAN Master Black Belt” and has directed the coordination of more than 350 LEAN Rapid Improvement Events (RIEs) in 16 Value Streams over the past six years. Mr. Goodman developed the curriculum for the Denver Health Black Belt training program, and has taught the application of LEAN principles and tools in healthcare settings to more than 200 Denver Health employees in leadership roles; his students have included more than 35 physician, nursing, and other key leaders.

Mr. Goodman has conducted numerous presentations of Denver Health’s LEAN Journey of Transformation at the national level, including the Institute for Health Care Improvement in Washington, DC, the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, and many others. Phil was instrumental in representing Denver Health’s LEAN initiative for process improvement in March of 2011 when the hospital became the first health care organization in the world to be awarded the "Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence" in recognition of Denver Health’s LEAN Journey of Transformation.