Kaizen Events

Transform a department in one week. Start Monday: redesign the workflow, the process, work management, standardize the process and have it up and running by Friday. Think it can't be done? A healthcare kaizen event is an extreme makeover event that facilitates rapid change over the course of 5 days. The events are rooted in leading change methodology including:

• Lean Principles
• Toyota Production Systems
• Six Sigma

Kaizen events are a great way to solve departmental problems in an efficient manner while hardwiring the organization for excellence and developing a winning culture. Over the course of time, issues come up that are inadequately addressed and changes are made that slow the process down. Our revenue cycle Kaizen events can cover:

• PFS
  • - Increase cash realization by 4% or more
  • - Increase billing quality by 10% or more
• HIM
  • - Reduce HIM cycle times by 30% or more
  • - Deliver day of discharge HIM processing
• Patient Access
  • - Increase point of service collections by 100%
  • - Decrease denials by 50%
• Case Management and Clinical Documentation
  • - Decrease readmission rate
  • - Decrease cycle time for patient release
  • - Improve utilization
  • - Improve clinical documentation
  • - Decrease denials
• Clinical
  • - Reduce patient wait times by 40%
  • - Reduce bed management cycle times by 25%
  • - Reduce Pre-operative testing wait time by 60%
  • - Decrease cycle time through the ED by 20%
  • - Increase use of standard protocols

What is a Kaizen Event?

It's a 5-day event that completely transforms an area from cubicles and broken process to high performing work teams and clearly identified processes.

What gets accomplished in 5 days?

• Associate training on lean principles and process observation
• Current process observation- determining failure modes
• Completely new area layout- removing cubicles in favor of Visual Workplace design
• Creation of High Performance Work Teams
• Process Redesign
• New Process Agreements
• Establishment of Shift Briefings
• Implementation of Team Metrics
• Hardwiring continuous improvement
• Standardized process
• Standardized work management methods
• New Process up and running

What makes HEI's Kaizens different?

As opposed to prolonging change, giving people time to dig in their heels, we believe change is most effectively when it happens quickly and the associates themselves are part of the new process design. It allows for associates to "own the process" and then be accountable to adhering to it.