A Look Back at the Project Charter
In this week’s dojo Steve takes a look back at the Project Charter with a dramatic retelling of actual history.
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How Utah Shares and Spreads Improvement Using the Value Summary
The Value Summary is the currency of value improvement work at University of Utah Health. It creates a common improvement language through a one-page summary document. It visually guides the improver through our standardized improvement methodology while teaching improvement science principles in real time. The online Value Summary portal creates a forum to share and spread ideas and a path to earn maintenance of certification credit.
Are Emotions Driving Health Care Cost?
Much of the national dialogue about health care costs focuses on payment reform and the power of market forces. Researchers compared the price-sensitivity of decisions between health care and pet care. The big idea—don’t lose sight of emotions when tackling the problem of health care costs.
Box and Whisker Plots (Part 1)
What is a box and whisker plot? Why do I need a box and whisker plot? How do I construct a box and whisker plot (sometimes shortened to “box plot”) in Excel 2013 or lower? It's a day in the deep weeds, dojo folks. Steve heard your questions and has dedicated the next two dojos to giving you all the answers.
Box and Whisker Plots (Part 2)
Part 1 was on how to build a box and whisker plot. In Part 2 we're defining whisker length and visualizing variation within and between the variable groups. This time we're giving you answers to the questions no one has asked.
Unraveling Payment: Voluntary vs. Mandatory Bundles
We asked Zac Watne, Utah’s payment innovation manager (he gets paid to understand the volatile world of payment reform) to give us a primer on “bundles.” Regardless of change happening in health care, thought leaders predict that payment reform, and specifically, bundled payments, are here to stay. Why? Bundles deliver care with improved outcomes at a lower price all over the United States. In this post, Zac outlines the difference between voluntary and mandatory bundles.
Why Don't We Use DMAIC?
After all, we are a lean six sigma operation, and DMAIC is a standard methodology. At Utah, we’ve adopted a revised improvement methodology. In this week’s post of Steve’s Dojo (or continuing Lean Six Sigma education), Steve explains why.
The Clarifying Power of Histograms and Run Charts
Why use the honest histogram and reliable run chart? They contain more information and communicate it with greater clarity than the deceptive duo of mean and standard deviation. In this week's post of Steve's Dojo (or continuing Lean Six Sigma education), Steve puts the data in plain perspective.
Why We Cover Health Care Payment Reform
Why dedicate space to the hot poker that is health law and policy on this website? Context. We are an improvement community. We believe providing context is an act of respect. Talking about "the why" of complex healthcare topics (payment reform included) allows our frontline clinicians and staff to be empowered and informed.
Greg Bell on How Payment Reform May Impact Utah
Former Lieutenant Governor Greg Bell on how congressional inaction could limit hospitals and doctors’ ability to provide healthcare in Utah (Photo credit: KUER, Utah Governor's Office).
Why Don’t We Teach the Eighth Waste?
The 8th waste is underutilization of employee talent. In this week's post of Steve's Dojo (or continuing Lean Six Sigma education), Steve revisits Taiichi Ohno’s "7 wastes" and answers why he doesn't teach the "8th waste" at University of Utah.
How Maintenance Management Systems Make Us a Safer Organization
Just under 40,000 pieces of physical equipment keep our hospital system humming—everything from hospital beds to air chillers. Casey Chandler manages the team that takes care of all 40,000 items. Here, he details the tools that keep us safe.
