Standard work is a visual guide to accomplish a job quickly and accurately. We asked our resident etiquette expert, Patient Advisor Mary Martha Tripeny, to put this Lean tool to the test by creating standard work for thank you notes. The holidays are stressful enough. This year, when nagging your children to write thank you notes, give Mary Martha’s standard work a try.

Follow Utah’s Nutrition Care Services as they produce and deliver over 300 lunches to inpatients all over our hospital, all at the same time. The work of this exceptional team highlights a complex lean operation that—before now—has largely gone unseen.

Improving patient experience often starts with survey questions and comments, but reliance on these elements alone can be insufficient. Incorporating the voice and experience of the patient can provide a deeper understanding of the problem and unlock more effective solutions.

Translating strategic priorities into everyday execution across a large, complex enterprise might seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Our Operational Plan is a blueprint that combines processes, tools, knowledge, and skills to deliver on these priorities.

Chief Medical Officer of Press Ganey Tom Lee reminds us that value does not happen by accident, and good intentions are not enough. The goal of improving value has to be a major focus for everyone in an organization.

It’s clear that fee-for-service health care isn't working—so what alternative payment model does?

For years, the Exceptional Value Annual Report documented the performance of the organization on all 45 of the key initiatives identified in the Operational Plan.

Health care organizations and providers have some understanding what they charge for care. But nationally, providers have a “complete lack of understanding” about the costs of health care, according to Michael Porter, Ph.D., and Robert Kaplan, Ph.D., ("The Big Idea: How to Solve the Cost Crisis in Health Care").

Utah “holds a unique distinction” when it comes to health care, according to a special report by the New England Journal of Medicine.