DailyKaizen

I thought it would be usesful to tell a story about a Kaizen I experienced recently in our rapidly growing Central Pharmacy.  New technology has allowed our organization to provide such services as online prescriptions and pharmacist HelpDesk, which have been embraced by our patients.  Additionally, we have added a Medicare Part D drug plan.  While these services have been great for our patients they have also meant a dramatic increase in the volume and complexity of work.  In fact, our pharmacy call center is taking more calls then our customer service center!

 
In the past the answer to increased workloads was simple: just add more staff.  This is no longer a viable option as the organization strives to remain cost competitive, not to mention how impossible it is to recruit a pharmacist these days.  In August, pharmacy leadership contacted the LEAN team and after a thorough analysis a future state for Central Pharmacy was designed. 

 
Last week I had the pleasure of helping facilitate a Kaizen in our Central Pharmacy that was led by two of my teammates.  This was the first of three Kaizen that will take pharmacy from the current to the future state.  Over the course of the five-day event we were able to standardize the work, reconfigure the work environment and establish a work leveling system.  It is early to tell, but it looks like we will be successful in achieving the Kaizen goals of cutting cycle times by half and freeing up 10 FTE.  That is a huge improvement for patients, since they will be getting their medication quicker; and for the organization, since 10 FTE can be reapplied to more value added activities resulting in nearly $750K in cost avoidance. 

 
The Kaizen in pharmacy was successful because of strong management support and participation, good facilitation, and excellent staff engagement. 

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