Learning points from paper
This paper was highlighted in The Innovator's Prescription and describes the Toyota Production System at Virginia Mason Medical Center.
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Citation and Abstract
Harvard Business School Publishing. 2005 Oct 3. Virginia Mason Medical Center. Richard B, Ferlins EM.
rbohmer@hbs.edu
In 2000, Dr. Gary Kaplan became CEO
of the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. The
hospital was facing significant challenges: It was losing money for the
first time in its history, staff morale had plummeted, and area
hospitals presented ardent competition. Considerable change was
imminent. Within his first few months, Kaplan had rallied the
organization around a new strategic direction: to become the quality
leader in health care. What Kaplan and his administrators lacked was an
effective tool to execute their strategy. Soon thereafter, a series of
serendipitous events led to the discovery of the Toyota production
system, and the Virginia Mason Medical Center became entrenched in an
overwhelming challenge: how to institute a production model in health
care.
Business case ID: 606044