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Chapter 1
Virginia Mason, Lean,
and Innovation
We want to make sure we are in existence 100 years from now, and you
can only do that if you are innovative. You cannot just tread water and
not embrace change because you will die. So, you’ve got to always be
figuring out some way to grow, and that requires being willing to look
at things differently.
—Mark Hutcheson
Past Virginia Mason Medical Center Board Chair
Janice (not her real name) is a 63-year- old woman who is a
patient of Virginia Mason provider Dr.Keith Dipboye. When
she arrived for a routine primary care visit in May 2007, she
was unaware that what happens routinely behind the scenes at ...