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Vol 32 - No 06 - September 2006 Maximizing Hospital Outcomes with Tips from Toyota: Using Less to Do More In June of 2002, Virginia Mason Medical Center adopted a new production system based on a highly successful automobile manufacturer’s system and adapted it to the healthcare setting in order to improve the quality of care, increase productivity, and decrease costs. Based on the Toyota Production System (TPS), the new system—the Virginia Mason Production System (VMPS)—has enabled the medical centre to set new patient care quality standards for the healthcare industry (Table 1). “The VMPS management approach is used to make real and measurable improvements in safety, quality, service, staff satisfaction, and cost performance,” explains Gary S. Kaplan, MD. “Our system helps identify and eliminate waste and inefficiency in numerous processes that are part of any healthcare experience. By streamlining the repetitive and low-touch aspects of care delivery, the medical staff can then spend more time talking with, listening to, and treating patients.” Page number: 26 Word count: 1350 Related Topics: Lean operations Manufacturing resource planning
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