Using Lean Techniques to Enable and Align the Workforce at Denver Health

Abstract

At Denver Health, an integrated health system in the heart of the capital of Colorado, lean tools and principles have been used for more than a decade. In that time, the organization has realized savings exceeding $210 million, with more than 30 percent of the workforce participating in structured lean activities. The organization has also improved quality outcomes through the reduction of waste from care processes. Feedback collected in 2012 from external reviewers indicated that although Denver Health had made significant strides in developing a robust improvement system, it would greatly benefit from the alignment of management efforts to the organization's long‐term strategy and to enhancing the ability of frontline staff to address the problems they encountered in their day‐to‐day tasks. To continue to improve performance and expand the benefits of lean techniques beyond the significant bottom‐line improvements seen through the reduction in waste, Denver Health has developed a long‐range strategic planning and deployment system and has taken steps to establish a robust problem‐solving management infrastructure. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.