Applying Lean Principles to Long-Term Care Settings

While rising healthcare expenditures, staffing shortages, and issues relating to quality and patient outcomes are not exclusive to long-term care, this sector faces unique challenges due to the gaps in funding and lack of proper resources in the space. With a growing aging population and an increasing need for long-term support services, it is of high public health significance that the organizations providing these services think about how they plan to adequately support this demand despite the barriers they are currently facing. These organizations may benefit from applying management theories like Lean which focuses on increasing value while decreasing costs and waste within a system. By changing the culture to support continuous improvement, long-term care organizations can begin to achieve more desired outcomes despite the issues at hand. This essay focuses on my experience with Presbyterian Seniorcare Network’s application of Lean during my Administrative Residency. The Lean projects I completed during my time focus on areas such as staffing, billing, and safety