Learn about kaizen event details describing recent wins in reducing case cart picking lead times for the operating room procedures, implementing barcode scanning organizational wide and smaller scale team driven improvements.
Hear how, for 16 years, Virginia Mason team members implemented lean concepts in the hospital setting. Wins include low unit of measure inventory management, rapid operating room turn around times, the elimination of waiting rooms for Emergency Department patients and many more improvements. Compare and contrast how lean concepts have been implemented in hospital settings, highlight similarities, differences and continued opportunities. Discover the challenges of implementing concepts of load leveling, removing packaging waste from the value chain, and standard work in patient settings.
Virginia Mason is recognized as one of the nation's best health care facilities. Virginia Mason's network of primary and specialty care medical centers and Virginia Mason Hospital and Seattle Medical Center offer superior treatment outcomes in areas including; primary care, cancer care, digestive disorders, heart care, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics and sports medicine, surgery and urology. Virginia Mason received the America’s 50 Best Hospitals Award from Healthgrades, a leading online consumer resource for comprehensive information about hospitals and physicians, and the 2017 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™. www.virginiamason.org
Tim Clark is the director of supply chain operations at Virginia Mason, leading lean activities. Previously, he implemented pull models in the medical device industry with CT, PET and ultrasound production lines. Clark is a certified lean leader at Virginia Mason and Philips Healthcare and a six sigma black belt. 
