In 2005, Denver Health partnered with Simpler Healthcare™ to embrace Toyota Production System’s LEAN principles. The goal was to identify waste and improve efficiency. Denver’s safety net hospital, with 525-licensed beds, was ready to undergo a cultural change that would allow them to remain financially stable and continue providing high quality patient care in the presence of uncompensated care and declining reimbursements.
Why LEAN at Denver Health?
Originally developed for the manufacturing industry, LEAN has great potential in the healthcare setting. Denver Health selected the LEAN methodology for the following reasons:
- Total package: a philosophy, set of principles & a tool set
- The philosophy fits healthcare
- The tool set is intuitive
- It generate meaningful employee engagement
- Rapid results
- Power to change culture
Unique Multi-Prong Approach to LEAN
Among only a few hospitals in the nation to implement the LEAN principles, Denver Health utilizes a unique two-pronged approach:
- Rapid Improvement Events (RIEs), that are carried out in 18 selected areas of the system called Value Streams. Each Value Stream is required to conduct 8 RIEs each year and each of these RIE results and metrics are reported directly to executive staff.
- Denver Health Black Belt Projects: Each Black Belt submits a standardized report electronically, documenting the Lean tools they used, the waste they identified and eliminated, and the quantifiable results of their project.
Over the years, Denver Health has adopted a LEAN culture that exposes all employees to the basic principles of LEAN, and trains 50 new Black Belts annually. Currently, there are more than 200 Black Belts throughout Denver Health.
Awards for Operational Excellence
Denver Health Receives 2011 UHC Supply Chain Performance Excellence Award
September 2011: Denver Health, the top performer among participating public hospitals, was presented with the award by Jake Groenewold, UHC’s senior vice president, Supply Chain, at the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems Fall Conference in Washington, DC. The hospital was recognized for excelling in the following five areas: excel in 5 areas: Physician alignment and stewardship; Evidence-based evaluations; Innovative supply chain approaches; Focus on distribution and utilization processes; and Long-term commitment to continuous improvement. The hospital credits their LEAN practices for their success in improving Denver Health's supply chain and receiving this award. Learn more about Denver Health's 2011 UHC award>>
Denver Health a 2011 Shingo Bronze Medallion Recipient
April 2011: Denver Health is the first healthcare organization to be awarded The Shingo Bronze Medallion for Operational Excellence. As part of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, the mission of The Shingo Prize is to create excellence in organizations through the application of universally accepted principles of operational excellence and to empower people and transform organizational culture. "The award recipients have proven themselves as leaders in operational excellence and have challenged traditional paradigms to face competitive challenges in today’s global economy," Bob Miller, The Shingo Prize Executive Director. More information about Denver Health's 2011 Shingo Award>>
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 Master’s 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.