VA's Lean Healthcare Transformation: Innovating the Veteran Patient Experience

This book provides insight into the initial deployment of a Lean Management System across VA, the nation's largest healthcare system. The book presents the origins of VA's Lean Enterprise Transformation (LET) in its 156 medical centers. The authors detail the clinical and administrative outcomes of these efforts, as well as the formative evaluation methods used to monitor and improve the VAs LET deployment and examines how the VA strives to provide the best patient experiences for our Veterans. The book takes a comprehensive, multi-level approach, revealing how innovation in VA healthcare is occurring through narratives from leaders, administrators, physicians and staff.

Kathryn Tauth Taylor, PhD is a writer and qualitative researcher for the Veterans Affairs Center for Applied Systems Engineering and an Assistant Professor of Composition and Rhetoric at Miami University. Dr. Taylor received her PhD from Purdue University and MA from the University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include public rhetoric, technical and professional communication, appalachian rhetorics, and medical writing. She has published book chapters and a number of research articles in peer-reviewed journals, including ISERC, Computers & Composition Online, Enculturation, Trans-Scripts, PLUCK!, and Reflections.

Robin R. Hemphill, MD, MHP is currently the acting assistant deputy Undersecretary of Health for Quality, Safety and Value for the Veterans Health Administration. Dr. Hemphill is a graduate of George Washington University Medical School, and received her Master's in Public Health from Vanderbilt University. She previously served active duty as an Attending Physician for the Brooke Army Medical Center; Associate Program Director for Vanderbilt University's Department of Emergency Medicine; Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow for Senator Jeff Bingaman's office; and Director of Quality and Safety for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Emory University.

Heather Woodward-Hagg, PhD is currently the National Program Director of Veterans Engineering Resource Center as well as Director of the VA Center for Applied Systems Engineering (VA-CASE). VA-CASE is an interdisciplinary Veterans Engineering Resource Center (VERC) that leverages the significant expertise present within VHA medical centers and affiliated academic partners in operational systems engineering, informatics and implementation science to facilitate transformation within VHA healthcare delivery systems. Prior to joining VA, Dr. Hagg was a Research Scientist at the VA Center for Implementing Evidence Based Practice (VA-CIEBP) in Indianapolis as well as a faculty member at the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering (RCHE). While serving as an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering Technology at the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology in Indianapolis (IUPUI), Dr. Hagg directed a statewide collaborative between IUPUI engineering faculty and Indiana hospital and healthcare providers to translate quality engineering methodologies. Dr. Hagg holds BS degrees in Ceramic Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla, an MS degree in Materials Science and Engineering, and a PhD in Manufacturing Engineering (with a Health Systems emphasis) from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Prior to her work in healthcare, Dr. Hagg spent nine years at Intel as a process engineer within semiconductor manufacturing.