Story omitted health savings

Re: “Lean cost up to $49.6M from 2012-2014, study finds,” (SP, Aug. 18)

The StarPhoenix article of Aug. 18 about Saskatchewan health care did the healthcare community and province a disservice.

The study estimates the costs but not resulting cost savings and patient safety improvements.

In fact, Saskatchewan Ministry of Health reported results for the years in question (accomplished without layoff of health-care workers).

For the contract period (2011-2015) there are detailed major government findings dated June 2015: The Honourable Dustin Duncan, Saskatchewan minister of health, 2015 Patient-First Review Update and Ministry of Health Lean Financial Impact Table 2 updated Feb. 25, 2015, reporting detailed savings alone of $125,418,964, among others, as of March 2015.

A sampling of other positive results achieved by health-care workers were:

Elimination of over 66,000 ■ miles per year of unnecessary travel by health-care staff, with a related savings in avoided salaries (for the same level of care) estimated at $548,898 per year.

$110 million in joint

■ procurement savings; $63 million in capital savings based on Lean design events; $42 million in improvement workshop savings.

23,157 trained in the basics ■ of improvement techniques; 309 improvement leaders certified; 728 enrolled for training.

132 mistake proofing projects,

■ 76 per cent achieving a less than one per cent defect rate as of April 1, 2015, in critical patient safety areas.

In addition, Lean and “Patient First”-based techniques led to major improvements in care, including significant reductions in inventories and errors, including significant reductions to patients’ waits for surgery and unnecessary and long waits for emergency care patients.

John R. Black, John Black and Associates, Seattle, Wash.