PROVINCE ACCELERATES LEAN JOURNEY TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE

Released on August 30, 2012

Saskatchewan is moving ahead with its commitment to transform the health care system and achieve better health for residents, better care for patients, better teams of health care providers and better value for taxpayer dollars. The province was the first in Canada to proceed in implementing Lean concepts across its entire health care system.

"Saskatchewan is uniquely positioned to introduce major, meaningful health care reform, with many supportive partners involved," Health Minister Dustin Duncan said. "We are committed to improving health care through Lean, and we are willing to be a leader in this area. Our goal is to continue to put patients first by improving access, quality, patient and staff safety, efficiency, and value for patients by using Lean as the foundation for the province's quality improvement efforts."

More than 200 Lean projects are currently underway in Saskatchewan health regions, the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency. They have already resulted in significant improvements in care and millions of dollars in savings:

• The Children's Hospital of Saskatchewan Lean design process helped teams find more efficient ways of providing services, while improving the design and hospital experience for patients and families. The result was savings of $30 million from August 2011 estimates, with the new cost estimate now at $229.9 million. 
• The Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region has reduced cancelled MRIs from 12 weekly to one, allowing them to do about 600 more scans per year.
• Better management of blood products has saved $10 million to date.
• Improvements to provincial vaccine management and distribution have saved more than $1.2 million (2009-2010).
• The Saskatchewan Cancer Agency has reduced patient waits between CT scan and breast radiotherapy treatment.
• Turnaround time for health card applications has improved from between 30 and 40 days to two days for online applications and five days for hard copy applications.

As part of a commitment to using Lean to improve health care for Saskatchewan patients, families and health care providers, the Ministry of Health has entered into a contract with consultant John Black and Associates (JBA) to further embed Lean practices province-wide. Health care providers, physicians, leaders and staff are now participating in training sessions and focused quality improvement projects, to ensure that continuous improvement is embedded in Saskatchewan's health system. More than 1,000 quality improvement projects will occur across the health system to improve patient experiences and reduce errors.

The contract with JBA is worth approximately $9.5 million this year with an option to renew for the next three years - an investment that reflects the size, scale and complexity of the health care system. Other jurisdictions have proven that applying Lean methodology in health settings improves patient experiences and health outcomes at a lower cost. For example, the Cleveland Clinic, which employs approximately the same number of people as Saskatchewan's health system, invested $40 million in Lean and achieved $100 million in savings over five years as a result.

Saskatchewan's Lean improvement efforts focus on strategic priorities including the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative, primary health care, safety and shared services. Lean is also the foundation for Releasing Time to CareTM (RTC), a program that has been implemented in provincial, regional, and community hospitals across the province since 2008. Lean will build on the work of RTC by continuing to reduce waste in the system so that frontline staff can spend more time providing safe and compassionate care to patients. Major capital projects are also Lean priorities, including the new Children's Hospital and Moose Jaw regional hospital. Using Lean in facility design will improve processes, reduce waits and improve experiences of patients, families and health care providers.

"Adopting Lean is the next logical step in the quality improvement journey we have been travelling in Saskatchewan's health care system over the past 10 years," Health Quality Council CEO Bonnie Brossart said. "Other health systems we are learning from have been using Lean for a decade or more. HQC looks forward to learning alongside its partners, and helping support the system over the longer term with this exciting change."

Seven recent rapid improvement Lean projects in the Saskatoon Health Region collectively resulted in a 59 per cent reduction in inventory, a 30 per cent rise in productivity, and 77 per cent fewer defects or mistakes (e.g. safer IV medication preparation, safer delivery of oxygen and medical gas, and better labelling and processing of blood and specimens).

"I'm in Lean leader certification training and have personally been involved in both Saskatoon Health Region process improvement workshops and Lean design events for the Children's Hospital," Saskatoon Health Region President and CEO Maura Davies said. "I've seen firsthand the positive change that Lean methodology can bring for our patients and our employees, by harnessing the wisdom and experience of patients, families and point of care staff. I'm excited about the transformation that is happening as we adopt Lean as the foundation for improving the quality and safety of care across our province."

"I recently participated in a Lean 3P process to look at designing a primary health care clinic," Yorkton family physician Dr. Phillip Fourie said. "We had patients, physicians, other providers and support staff all focus on quality. This process helped us remove unnecessary waste in the system and come up with solutions to provide an environment for patients to receive optimal care."

"The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses welcomes the opportunity for front-line care providers to have their voices heard as changes to patient flow and elimination of waste begin to transform our workplaces," SUN President Rosalee Longmoore said. "A focus on patient- and family-centred care using best practice evidence and Lean principles will improve the patient experience and return nursing to a rewarding career."

More than 40,000 people work in Saskatchewan's health care system, and more than 800,000 individuals interact with Saskatchewan's health system every year. More details about Saskatchewan's Lean health care transformation can be found at www.health.gov.sk.ca/lean.

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For more information, contact:

Tyler McMurchy
Health
Regina
Phone: 306-787-4083