Reviews, Press, Awards

Press Reviews & Articles

Praise for Healthcare Kaizen & The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen

See more endorsements for the original Healthcare Kaizen.

Unleashing the energy and creativity of every employee to solve problems everyday should be the sole focus of every healthcare leader. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of examples where this is happening. The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen provides examples of front line staff coming up with solutions to problems on their own and implementing them. Healthcare leaders need to read this book to understand that their management role must radically change to one of supporting daily kaizen if quality safety and cost are to improve in healthcare.
John Toussaint, MD
CEO, ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value
Author, On the Mend and Potent Medicine

Without exception, the leadership of the health system is the determinant of success or failure in Lean transformation. The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen is a focused and concise guide for that journey, a must read for those who have that responsibility.
Dave Munch, MD
Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer, Healthcare Performance Partners

Adoption of the Lean philosophy is dead on arrival without the involvement of an organization’s senior leadership. Yet, what are members of the executive suite to think when a bunch of Japanese terms coming flying past their desk? And when the leadership philosophy required is something quite different from their training and experience? Graban and Swartz help cut through all this in a presentation that is cogent, efficient, and thoughtful. Whether you are new to Lean principles or experienced in them, this book has something to offer. Even if you don’t choose to take the entire Lean journey, you will receive insights and ideas that will help you get better results from your organization.
Paul F. Levy
Author of Goal Play! Leadership Lessons from the Soccer Field
Former CEO, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

It has been studied and shown that true north for healthcare organizations is an engaged senior leader and senior leadership team. This factor alone is the difference between mediocrity and excellence when it comes to performance and sustained extraordinary metrics for care, health and cost. The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen provides a foundation for you as an executive to build the learning organization needed in today’s environment. Smart, to the point, and handy. You will find this guide invaluable.
Betty Brown MBA MSN RN CPHQ FNAHQ
Immediate Past President NAHQ
Principal, ELLO Consulting, LLC

At Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, everybody improving every day is a critical aspect of our Lean and quality improvement efforts. Healthcare Kaizen, is full of relatable examples as well as practical ideas that will inspire staff, clinicians and leaders at all levels. It’s must-have supplement, “The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen: Leadership for a Continuously Learning and Improving Organization”, clearly outlines the role of management in leading this important work. It is not enough to be supportive; rather, one must demonstrate genuine interest with active participation and not delegate continuous improvement to others.
Alice Lee
Vice President, Business Transformation, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

What Mark Graban and Joseph Swartz have done in Healthcare Kaizen and The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen is to bring hope and light to a part of our society that is facing increasing challenges. Full of examples and illustrations from hospitals and healthcare professionals leading the way in the journey to patient-centered, error-free care delivery, this book makes it easy to connect with this very powerful concept of kaizen. By putting kaizen within the broader tradition of quality improvement, shedding light on its historical development and pointing out potential pitfalls in its application in healthcare, the authors provide a great service to the healthcare community. I was especially impressed by the authors’ important insights on what a kaizen culture feels like, and how people at all levels can and must engage in daily improvement. These books will be a reference on the subject for many years to come.
Jon Miller
CEO,Kaizen Institute