Assessing performance and value-creation capabilities in Lean healthcare: insights from a case study

ABSTRACT

Lean thinking is increasingly being applied worldwide. Yet its actual impact is still a puzzle, particularly when a ‘full-implementation approach’—which entails the adoption of a strategic approach to Lean dissemination on policy deployment procedures—is used. Focusing on the healthcare sector, this paper presents and tests a comprehensive measurement framework for Lean interventions. The paper explains how Lean testing can help decision-makers to solve managerial issues related to Lean initiatives.

IMPACT

This paper explains why the effectiveness of a Lean strategy should be assessed by taking into account the synergies between internal and external performance dimensions. The authors present the concept of ‘value creation capability’. The new measurement framework they present was proved to be effective in a large multisite hospital (creating over 5 million euro of re-investable value) and could be similarly applied and tested elsewhere in the healthcare sector.

KEYWORDS:

• Lean healthcare
• full-implementation approach
• Lean thinking
• performance measurement
• value creation capability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).