I recently came across a free whitepaper about lean in healthcare.  (Let me know if that link works or not.  It should download the file for you.)  I'm of two minds about this.  On the one hand, I'm not about to disparage any organization that seeks to improve itself any way it can.  On the other hand, I wonder if this isn't the old story of organizations implementing the "flavor of the week" and calling in by the latest buzzword. (See my post about lean in landscaping.)  Would you choose a hospital because you heard it was implementing a lean initiative in an effort to emulate the Toyota Production System?  I could be wrong but I'm guessing not, and you know what lean is all about.  Imagine what your everyday man or woman off the street thinks if he or she were to hear this.

Again, my point isn't that hospitals shouldn't look into lean methods and strive to implement them.  I've worked in health care organizations, and, by and large, they are apt to pull implement good methods where ever they find them.  It's more that:

1. We see the problem with the nomenclature.  If you hear that your car manufacturer is implementing lean methods, you don't worry so much that the leadership might have the "cost cutting" mindset as it goes about learning the new methods.  If you hear your local hospital is implementing lean methods, you'd probably be a bit concerned about the possibility of a "cost cutting" mindset.  (I want to make myself clear.  I'm not saying the lean methods are only about cost cutting.   I am saying that too many leaders see it as being only about cost cutting.)
2. We see that the term "lean" is being applied to any continuous improvement program. (Again, see the "lean in landscaping" post.)

I've written about my issues with nomenclature in past posts, so I'll focus on the second point.  What's the harm if organizations implement continuous improvement programs that use a few lean methods and refer to that as a "lean implementation"?  A couple of things:  either the terms "lean enterprise" or "lean organization" or "lean methods" either mean something specific or they don't.  If they get used to describe any continuous improvement initiative, then they are being used as buzzwords to describe whatever the organization (or consultant) wants to do.  (I saw something the other day in which the writer said he or she attended a "lean methods" seminar in which the consultant/speaker advocated creating competitions between employee teams to increase production.  I don't need to tell readers that this is the precise opposite of anything resembling good lean/agile process.)  When these approaches fail, we hear things like, "We tried to implement lean methods/the Toyota Production System, but it didn't work so we dropped it."

So, download the paper and tell me what you think.