My guest is Alan Gleghorn, CEO of Christie Clinic in central Illinois. Alan is one of the keynote presenters at the upcoming Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, to be held June 5-6, 2013 in Orlando. Alan has been CEO for 14 years, leading Christie Clinic in their Lean journey that started in 2005 when he saw ThedaCare's current CEO Dr. Dean Gruner present at a conference.

In this episode, Alan talks about how they got started with Lean, what they learned from Autoliv and the Shingo Prize assessment process (being the first healthcare organization to do that). He also talks about his Summit keynote and how their work with Accountable Care Organizations is leading to better value and outcomes for patients.

For a link to this episode, refer people to www.leanblog.org/173. You can also listen to an interview I did with Alan two years ago for the Healthcare Value Network podcast.

This podcast was produced in conjunction with the Healthcare Value Network as a continuation of their previous podcast series.

Joining me for this episode is Leonard L. Berry, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Marketing in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. We are talking about his article that he co-authored with John Toussaint, MD Mayo Clinic Proceedings: “The Promise of Lean in Health Care” (PDF) - which I blogged about earlier. In this podcast, Len talks about his time being embedded in ThedaCare and the lessons he learned there... for example, why is it incorrect to assume that "standardized work" means something stifling?

This episode is produced in partnership with the Healthcare Value Network.

Learn more about the Healthcare Value Network, the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, and their annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit.

My guest for episode #12 (#166 of the LeanBlog Podcast series) is Julie Bartels, Executive Vice President, National Healthcare Information at the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value. In this episode, we are talking about their new program, the Healthcare Clinical Business Intelligence Network (CBIN). Julie tells us about “business intelligence” and how data and transparency relate to Lean improvement efforts. Why is “the devil in the details” in making more data available to payers and patients? Listen to find out.

Read an FAQ document about the CBIN or see this PDF document. You can also learn more on the Center’s transparency page.

This episode is produced in partnership with the Healthcare Value Network.

Learn more about the Healthcare Value Network, the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, and their annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit.

Our guest today is Rachelle Schultz, CEO of Winona Health (based in Winona, Minnesota). Rachelle was a part of the CEO panel in last year’s Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit and her comments on leading a health system’s Lean transformation were well received. In this discussion, she says, “Everything I do has to drive Lean,” as we talk about how her system is using Lean in these challenging times and what the impact has been – quality, satisfaction, financial.

This episode is produced in partnership with the Healthcare Value Network.

Learn more about the Healthcare Value Network, the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, and their annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit.

My guest for this episode is Dr. Gregory R. Johnson, the Chief Medical Officer at Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In this episode, we talk about how Parkview is using Lean to cope with today’s challenging environment, how Dr. Johnson encourages Lean thinking among physicians, and the role of standardization in medicine. Dr. Johnson says Parkview is moving toward “having everyone operating in a Lean way, all 8200 co-workers” instead of just doing “Rapid Improvement Events.”

This episode is produced in partnership with the Healthcare Value Network. Dr. Johnson and I also talk about Parkview’s participation in the Network, including hosting a “gemba visit” by other members.

Learn more about the Healthcare Value Network, the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, and their annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit.

In this episode, we are joined by Dean Gruner,  MD, the President & CEO of ThedaCare, a health system in Wisconsin that is considered by most to be a leader in the application of the lean management system to healthcare improvement. Here, Dean talks about Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and how ThedaCare is using this approach, along with Lean methods, to improve the coordination of care for patients.

Our main podcast page with past episodes is www.healthcarevalueleaders.org/podcast.

More about Dean Gruner:

Dean Gruner, MD, is the president and CEO of ThedaCare, Inc. ThedaCare is a community-owned health system consisting of Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Medical Center, New London Family Medical Center, Riverside Medical Center in Waupaca, ThedaCare Physicians, and other health care services. Since 2003, he has served as chief medical officer and sr. vice president of ThedaCare, which is the largest employer in Northeast Wisconsin with nearly 5,400 employees. ThedaCare's service area spans 14 counties.

Dr. Gruner has served in multiple leadership positions with ThedaCare or its affiliates since it was founded as Novus Health Group in 1987. He was one of the founding physicians of Touchpoint, and was a practicing family physician with Family Doctors, S.C., which affiliated with ThedaCare in 1994.

Along with Dr. John Toussaint, former ThedaCare president and CEO, Dr. Gruner participated in the design and formation of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Health Care Quality (WCHQ), which publicly reports on the performance of healthcare organizations in Wisconsin.

In this episode, we are joined by Dean Gruner,  MD, the President & CEO of ThedaCare, a health system in Wisconsin that is considered by most to be a leader in the application of the lean management system to healthcare improvement. Dean talks about the basics of "strategy deployment" as a management system and how it fits with the ThedaCare Improvement System. Click here to learn more about a new DVD, "Thinking Lean at ThedaCare: Strategy Deployment."

Our main podcast page with past episodes is www.healthcarevalueleaders.org/podcast.

More about Dean Gruner:

Dean Gruner, MD, is the president and CEO of ThedaCare, Inc. ThedaCare is a community-owned health system consisting of Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Medical Center, New London Family Medical Center, Riverside Medical Center in Waupaca, ThedaCare Physicians, and other health care services. Since 2003, he has served as chief medical officer and sr. vice president of ThedaCare, which is the largest employer in Northeast Wisconsin with nearly 5,400 employees. ThedaCare's service area spans 14 counties.

Dr. Gruner has served in multiple leadership positions with ThedaCare or its affiliates since it was founded as Novus Health Group in 1987. He was one of the founding physicians of Touchpoint, and was a practicing family physician with Family Doctors, S.C., which affiliated with ThedaCare in 1994.

Along with Dr. John Toussaint, former ThedaCare president and CEO, Dr. Gruner participated in the design and formation of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Health Care Quality (WCHQ), which publicly reports on the performance of healthcare organizations in Wisconsin.

In episode #7, I am joined by Ray Seidelman, a Performance Improvement Manager at the Iowa Health System. We are talking about the "Adaptive Design" methodology and how it engages front-line staff in making improvements with the goal of "ideal patient care."

Our podcast page is www.healthcarevalueleaders.org/podcast.

Episode Host: Mark Graban

In this episode, Pat Hagan, the COO of Seattle Children's Hospital talks about their lean journey and the recently published book "Leaning the Lean Healthcare Journey" that was recently released.

Our podcast page is www.healthcarevalueleaders.org/podcast.

More about Patrick Hagan:

Patrick Hagan joined Seattle Children's Hospital in May 1996 and currently serves as its president and chief operating officer. Over the past 25 years, he has held executive positions at children's hospitals in Ohio and Arizona, as well as in Seattle. Learning from Joan Wellman (of JW&A) and the experiences of Toyota, Boeing, Genie, and other companies utilizing lean principles and tools, Hagan has led and helped develop the Continuous Performance Improvement (CPI) strategy at Children's. Hagan has sponsored, led, or participated in several Rapid Process Improvement Workshops, and teaches Children's week-long Lean Leader Training course. Over the past several years Hagan has spoken at numerous conferences and institutions about CPI and Children's successful application of this transformative strategy. Hagan serves on the governing boards of the local Ronald McDonald House Charities and the American Heart Association. He is also a member of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) Board of Directors, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI).

Episode Host: Mark Graban

Episode #5 is a discussion with two guests from Akron (OH) Children's Hospital and their Center for Operations Excellence, Kris Grayem and Chris Weisbrod. They were part of a Healthcare Value Leaders Network member visit to the company Autoliv, a top automotive supplier, in November. Kris and Chris discuss the important lessons that they learned from visiting a factory as non-factory people - what ideas and concepts did they bring back to their hospital?

Our podcast page is www.healthcarevalueleaders.org/podcast.

More about our guests:

Kris Grayem is a nurse practitioner in the department of pediatrics and is also the associate director of clinical systems and performance improvement. Christopher Weisbrod is a Lean Six Sigma project leader in 

Episode Host: Mark Graban