Prof.  Bohdan W.  Oppenheim
Loyola Marymount University,  USA

Title: Lean Healthcare Systems Engineering Process for Projects in Healthcare Delivery Operations

Abstract:

A new process called Lean Healthcare Systems Engineering Process based on systems approach will be presented for improving healthcare delivery operations in all clinical environments: hospitals (including ER and OR), clinics, laboratories, pharmacies, and population health. These projects tend to be vastly smaller in terms of effort and durations than the traditional Systems Engineering programs used, e.g. in defense.  LHSE adopts selected tools from the classical SE process and integrates them with Lean and earlier improvement tools.   LHSE consists of four phases: Background, Analysis of Current State, Future State Design, and Implementation.  LHSE has been successfully tested in 130 actual projects in medical organizations in Southern California.   The paper will also summarize a white paper which compares LHSE to the earlier process improvement methods popular in healthcare: PDSA, TQM, Six Sigma, Lean, and Theory of Constraints - and demonstrates that LHSE is significantly superior to all of them.   The critical advantages of LHSE are its ability to integrate the highly fragmented elements of care (the fragmentation is estimated to kill tens of thousands of people per year in the US), to reduce waste, apply systems approach and assure rigor, and to reduce project iterations and costs.

Biography:

Angeles; and a Faculty Member of the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine.  The unique Program was created in partnership with a leading U.S. Medical System of Kaiser Permanente and is regarded as a premiere HSE-type program in the nation.  Oppenheim is the author of seven books, authored and co-authored chapters in six other books and published 30 journal papers.   He was honored with three Shingo Awards, INCOSE Product of the Year Award, INCOSE Fellowship, and over $2 million in externally funded grants.  He advised over 100 master’s projects in Medical Centers of Southern California.  Born in Warsaw, Poland, he has degrees from Warsaw Technical University, Stevens Institute of Technology, MIT, and University of Southampton in UK.   Lives in Santa Monica, California.  Two married sons.  U.S. Coast Guard Sailing Captain’s License.