Houston hospital has adopted a business approach to efficiency

Shortly after taking over as CEO of Houston-based St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, David Pate, MD, tasked a vice president at the hospital with researching "lean manufacturing." The concept was an old one in manufacturing, but was new to not-for-profit hospitals. While taking ideas off the assembly line and laying them over patient care was not well received by many doctors and nurses at first, Pate says the concept translates into patient safety.