John Toussaint, MD, is one of the nation’s foremost figures in the adoption of lean principles in healthcare. Under his leadership since 2008, the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, headquartered in Appleton, WI, has launched peer-to-peer learning networks, developed in-depth workshops, and advanced the idea of healthcare value through care delivery redesign, transparency of healthcare performance measurement, and payment reform.
Dr. Toussaint was the founding chair of both the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality and the Wisconsin Health Information Organization. He chairs the Wisconsin Statewide Value Committee, which is composed of leaders from payor, provider, employer, and state government organisations focused on reducing the cost and improving the quality of healthcare in the state. Further, he has participated in many subcommittees for the Institute of Medicine, and co-authored many papers including most recently, “Innovation and Best Practices in Health Care Scheduling” and “The CEO Checklist for High Value Healthcare.”
Dr. Toussaint’s healthcare improvement work using the Toyota Production System principles has been well- documented in healthcare industry publications including JAMA, the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Health Affairs, the Harvard Business Review, The Journal of Patient Safety, and Frontiers in Health Management, Modern Healthcare; and in several regional and national publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Healthcare Finance News, the CNBC Blog, and the Huffington Post. His work on payment reform and the transparency of provider performance data has been featured in The American Journal of Managed Care and the Commonwealth Fund publications.
Dr. Toussaint has been recognised for his work in transforming healthcare by the Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME), which inducted him into its 2012 Hall of Fame, and the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, which hosts the annual Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence. In 2011, he was appointed a lifetime member of the Shingo Academy. In 2005, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle honored Dr. Toussaint with a Certificate of Commendation for Innovation from the State of Wisconsin.
As a much sought after speaker, Dr. Toussaint has addressed audiences at The Association for Manufacturing Excellence, The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, The Shingo Institute, The Lean Enterprise Institute, The Institute for Healthcare Improvement, The American College of Healthcare Executives, and many international conferences. He also regularly speaks on the topic of healthcare value to state and national legislators, Medicare leaders, and government staff.
Dr. Toussaint’s groundbreaking first book, On the Mend: Revolutionizing Healthcare to Save Lives and Transform the Industry, revealed how healthcare can fundamentally improve at the point of delivery using the proven principles of lean management. His second book, Potent Medicine: The Collaborative Cure for Healthcare, described the three core elements necessary to transform healthcare and deliver better value: delivery of care designed around the patient, transparency of treatment quality and cost, and payment for outcomes. Both books received the Shingo research and publication award. His third book, Management on the Mend: The Healthcare Executive Guide to System Transformation is the result of years of investigations by Dr. Toussaint of dozens of healthcare organizations around the world. Using their collective experiences, he has built a model for lean transformations that work. This book describes that model, step by step, through the experience of people in 11 organizations who are doing the work. It will be released in June 2015.
Dr John Toussaint’s presentation abstract
Dr Toussaint will be talking about leading a system-wide transformation to bring about quality and cost improvements in health facilities. The presentation will focus on:
- the healthcare transformation framework that he has built, which incorporates the collective experiences of dozens of healthcare organisations around the world.
- the crucial role of leaders in driving this change across the organisation.
- providing a guide for leaders, through this framework, to build a culture of daily problem-solving and continuous improvement.