Critical Access Hospital Benefits from Lean Strategy

When an ice storm left Monadnock Community Hospital, a New Hampshire Critical Access Hospital, without power for two weeks in 2008, President and CEO Peter L. Gosline was faced with an enormous financial deficit that should have cost jobs. Gosline chose a different route; refocusing management and adopting a company-wide lean six sigma model, the hospital was able to recover financially, and excel operationally. The lean six-sigma model empowers all employees, ultimately streamlining operations and making companies more cost-effective. In the case of Monadnock, Gosline worked with an outside firm to motivate managers to come up with ways and ideas to make the hospitals run more efficiently. Gosline estimates this initiative saved the small community hospital roughly $1 million a year.

Since 2009, Monadnock Community Hospital has remained an essential critical access hospital (CAH), earning a place on iVantage’s Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals of 2013. Recently, Peter L. Gosline retired from Monadnock, and Cynthia K. McGuire was appointed President and CEO by the board of trustees.

 

Sources:

 

http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/how-lean-strategies-saved-nh-critical-access-hospital-financial-ruin/2014-04-07

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20131219/NEWS02/131219166

https://www.ivantagehealth.com/ivantage-health-analytics-names-top-100-critical-access-hospitals/

http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/lean-six-sigma-gives-employees-voice-changes/2012-07-18