Driving Innovation

The fact is, even with the success of all of our strategies to bring more workers into health care, demand will still out pace the need. The Health Work Force Institute;'s fourth strategy involves working with the health care industry to find ways to slow demand for new health care workers.

The Lean Model

The Health Work Force Institute is working to help hospitals and other health care facilities find ways to deliver health care more efficiently, without compromising quality or safety. The Lean concept, a program designed by Toyota to eliminate wate and improve efficiency, is finding traction in many industries today, and larger hospitals such as Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle have demonstrated that Lean strategies can significantly relieve a health care system’s twofold pressures of increased demand for services and shortages in qualified health care personnel.  

Rural and suburban hospitals are especially challenged by staffing pressures and increased patient loads that strains patient care.  However, these hospitals often lack financial and staffing resources needed to implement the Lean process.

The Institute is now aligning its partnerships and resources to deliver Lean resources to hospitals statewide.  We estimate that fully embedding a Lean architecture and culture within the average suburban or rural hospital will require three years to implement and will reduce staffing growth by 33 percent within 10 years.