``Reducing Waste and Inefficiency through Process Redesign: Lean/Toyota Production System (TPS) Implementation''

Proposed Project AHRQ, through its contractor, American Institutes for Research (AIR), proposes to investigate the contribution of Lean/TPS to reducing waste in health care delivery systems. Lean is a process-redesign methodology adopted from Toyota Production Systems. The goal of Lean/TPS is to empower front-line staff to apply continuous quality improvement methods to reduce waste and enhance value in workflows and operations (Spear, S. Fixing healthcare from the inside, today. Harvard Business Rev., 2005 83(9), 78-91). AHRQ is interested in assessing and disseminating promising techniques and methodologies for redesigning health care processes to reduce waste and enhance efficiency. Using a purposive sample of health care organizations and projects, AHRQ will describe and assess the ways in which Lean/TPS has been implemented and the related challenges and solutions experienced. The sample will vary in community and market characteristics, type of service (e.g., inpatient/outpatient), and delivery system characteristics (e.g., relationship between physicians and hospitals, ownership). AHRQ plans to disseminate the lessons learned from this project on the implementation of Lean/TPS to health care delivery systems. This project is being conducted pursuant to AHRQ's statutory authority to conduct and support research on health care and on systems for the delivery of such care, including activities with respect to: The quality, effectiveness, efficiency, appropriateness and value of health care services; quality measurement and improvement; and health care costs, productivity, organization, and market forces. 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(1), (2), and (6).