Abstract
Research in Medical & Engineering Sciences Lean Enablers for Clinical Laboratories Bohdan W Oppenheim1*, Michael H Kanter2, Onie Bueno3, Vincent L Dizon4, Louie M Farnacio5, Paulette L Medina6, Mike M Moradian7, Chiemi Tabata8 and Michael S Tiffert9 1PhD, Professor of Systems Engineering, Associate Director for Healthcare Systems Engineering, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles 2MD, CPPS, Regional Medical Director of Quality & Clinical Analysis, Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG), Executive Vice President, Chief Quality Officer, The Permanente Federation 3Director of Operations, Bacteriology and Molecular Microbiology, SCPMG, Regional Reference Laboratories, Chino Hills 4MBA MT(ASCP) DLM SBB. Director of Operations, Chemistry Services, Kaiser Permanente SCPMG Regional Reference Laboratories 5Director of Laboratory Services, Kaiser Permanente Southern California Regional Reference Laboratory 6Assistant Director of Operations, RRL Bacteriology, Kaiser Permanente SCPMG Regional Reference Lab 7PhD, Director of Operations, Molecular Genetic Pathology Regional Laboratory, Kaiser Permanente SCPMG Regional Reference Laboratories 8Assistant Director of Operations, RRL Automated Chemistry, Kaiser Permanente SCPMG, Regional Reference Laboratories 9MS, Section Manager, Cytogenetics, Regional Genetics Laboratory, Kaiser Permanente SCPMG, Regional Reference Laboratories *Corresponding author: Dr. Bohdan W Oppenheim, Professor of Systems Engineering, Associate Director for Healthcare Systems Engineering, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA Submission: October 23, 2017; Published: November 27, 2017 DOI: 10.31031/RMES.2017.02.000543 ISSN : 2576-8816Volume2 Issue4
Highlights
The healthcare industry in the US is the largest segment of the economy; exceeding three trillion dollars [1]
The challenges are grouped into general types, those labeled with the first digit of 1, applicable to the entire enterprise; and those that apply to a specific laboratory, labeled with the first digits of 2 to 6
The Lean Enablers for Clinical Laboratories (LEfCL) represent a collection of best productivity practices based on Lean Thinking that is minimizing waste and promoting value
Summary
The healthcare industry in the US is the largest segment of the economy; exceeding three trillion dollars [1]. While the ACA seems to have started bending the overall healthcare cost curve downward [2], most of healthcare as well as individual patients are still experiencing high costs across the industry. The rapid changes following the introduction of the ACA and recent political turbulence tend to create stress within healthcare providing entities. Clinical laboratories are no exception and are feeling the challenges of higher number of patients, lower revenues, higher costs, quality and service challenges, and increasing regulatory oversights. This paper offers a methodology to help reverse this trend in clinical laboratory operations using Lean methodology
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