Make your physician practice a lean, mean  healing machine

In the past few years, larger hospitals and health systems have bought into the process,  and now a growing number of physician practices have embraced Lean, including Kalamazoo,  MI–based Borgess Ambulatory Care (BAC).

“It is an intense effort, and it works,” says Ed Millermaier, MD, MBA, chief medical officer and COO at BAC. “Breaking down processes into individual steps is daunting work. We’re learning that we need to focus on pieces of the process so we can measure improvement and track ourselves. This is a long-term process; there are no quick wins.”