Culture Change as a Strategy: Presbyterian SeniorCare Network’s LEANforward Initiative

The landscape of the healthcare workforce is changing. The elderly population in America is growing. For the first time in U.S. history, adults over the age of 65 will make up 20% of the population by 2030.1 This has two main effects. First, as the age of the U.S. population continues to rise, the need for long-term care services is expected to increase. Second, a decreased working-age population, is a major contributing factor toward healthcare worker shortages today. Which bears the question – how does the healthcare industry do more with less? The lean business model adds value to the customer through standardizing, simplifying, and eliminating waste along entire systems. Continuous improvement efforts work to define processes requiring less human effort, space, capital, and time to make products or services at lower costs. Presbyterian SeniorCare Network, a long-term care continuum in Western Pennsylvania, understood this call for change in the long-term care industry. This essay evaluates Presbyterian SeniorCare Network’s lean culture change strategy to combat demographic, demand, and workforce challenges