Title: Knowledge driven lean in healthcare: a necessity

Authors: Natalie Petersen-Menefee; William M. Mothersell; Jaideep Motwani

Addresses: School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA ' Seidman College of Business, Grand Valley State University, 3073 L. William Seidman Center, USA ' Seidman College of Business, 3075 L. William Seidman Center, Grand Rapids, MI 49504-6431, USA

Abstract: Quality and efficiency within healthcare are not being realised to the degree that they should be; waste in particular is rampant throughout organisations, and indeed in the entire sector. Should the US healthcare system adopt lean processes - will lean production philosophies translate effectively into this service sector? Also, are electronic health records a safe and valuable addition to the lean arsenal of tools meant to reduce waste in an effort to improve quality and create maximum value? This paper asserts that the lean production system can be applied within a service industry like healthcare and that implementing this type of knowledge-driven process will hopefully facilitate a revitalisation of the US healthcare sector and propels it above its dismal 37th place in the world.

Keywords: knowledge-driven processes; electronic health records; EHRs; healthcare services; lean processes; USA; United States; lean production.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2017.080713

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2017 Vol.12 No.1, pp.120 - 135

Received: 07 Mar 2014
Accepted: 27 Sep 2014
Published online: 05 Dec 2016 *

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