Struggling rural hospitals on the High Plains might be able to learn from a facility in Fredericksburg, Texas. The rural hospital there has gone in recent years from the brink of closing to become a thriving health center. In 2009, patient satisfaction and employee satisfaction were very low. Then the death of a 13-year-old at the hospital lead to systemic changes, reports The Rural Blog.Instead of involving attorneys, administrators reached out to the boy’s family and asked them to partner in really transforming the hospital.
Hill Country Memorial’s CEO studied the nearby Toyota plant in San Antonio. Michael Williams brought the car company’s revered assembly line principles to the hospital.
Toyota’s system basically allows you to identify and remove waste from your processes. The facility is now one of the top 100 hospitals in the country.