Gary S. Kaplan MD, Virginia Mason Medical Center
Gary S. Kaplan, M.D. has been chairman and CEO of the Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) in Seattle since February 2000.
Kaplan serves on the Virginia Mason Medical Center Board of Directors, is Chair of the Management Committee, serves on the Board of Governors, the Benaroya Research Institute Board, and the Board of the Virginia Mason Foundation. Dr. Kaplan has practiced internal medicine at Virginia Mason Medical Center since 1982, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.
Starting in 2001, Virginia Mason was one of the first organizations in the world to adapt the Toyota Production System to healthcare. Following the tenets of the Virginia Mason Production System (VMPS), staff members work to identify and eliminate waste and inefficiency in the processes that create the patient’s healthcare experience.
Documented benefits include more patient time with providers, better quality outcomes, and less delay for patients to get in to see physicians and begin treatment. Virginia Mason staff members spend less time doing rework and other non-value-added activity, which allows them to spend more time with patients. Cost savings and other quantifiable benefits from the organization’s lean work includes:
- Savings of $11 million in planned capital investment by using existing space more efficiently
- Freeing up an estimated 25,000 square feet of floorspace
- Reduced time to report lab test results to the patient by more than 85 percent.
- Reduced inventory costs by more than $1 million
- Reduced staff walking distance by 60 miles per day
- Reduced labor expense in overtime and temporary labor by $500,000 in one year
- Increased productivity by about 93 percent in a few targeted areas by moving the most common supplies to point of use, and creating kits containing frequently-needed supplies.*
In 2009 VMMC began construction on a new hospital planned and built using patient-centric principles to reduce waste, improve quality and improve the overall healthcare experience. The project started with feedback from staff and patients, which led to a plan that is designed to allow healthcare services to flow to the patient. This includes separate corridors for the flow of patients and care providers, universal treatment rooms equipped with a battery of test equipment, and companion areas where family members can feel comfortable and not in the way.
Dr. Kaplan and the VMMC organization are working on a variety of initiatives to diffuse lean methodologies and management methods throughout the healthcare industry. The VMMC Center for Health Care Solutions (CFHS) works with organizations to deconstruct current processes and then reconstruct them using the VMPS principles. Groups include an employer, insurance providers, a health plan executive, a patient and administrative staff from Virginia Mason, meet at Virginia Mason’s Seattle Main Campus to study how care is delivered for a specific condition. The team then uses evidence-based medicine to identify value-added components of care. Waits and delays are eliminated, quality measures are established, the new care model is implemented and tested and payment is aligned with value.
The Virginia Mason Institute (VMI) provides education and training in the Virginia Mason Production System to other healthcare providers and organizations. See the VMI website for a schedule of upcoming workshops.
*2009 VMPS Facts, Virginia Mason Medical Center.
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