U.S. consultant hired to implement Lean hard on Saskatchewan in book

REGINA – A U.S. consultant whose company got a four-year, $40 million contract from the Saskatchewan government to implement his “Lean” system for cutting health-care costs has some critical words about the experience in a new edition of his book.

In 2011, the Saskatchewan Party government hired John Black and Associates to introduce its the cost-cutting system to health care.

That contract was eventually cut short by a few months and the government eventually said the final cost was closer to $35 million.

In his book “The Toyota Way to Healthcare Excellence,” Black describes facing “nationalist” sentiments as he tried to implement the Lean program.

He writes about the criticism his system faced from the media, the NDP opposition, and health-care unions, describing it “as a political football.”

He also makes the suggestion that a request by the province to not use his Japanese team members “carried racist overtones.”

“No other client in JBA’s history has ever singled out any of our consultants based on gender, race, ethnicity, or nationality,” Black writes.

Health Minister Dustin Duncan isn’t happy with the accusation made by Black.

Duncan admits they requested some adjustments to the contract in response to the “concerns and criticisms we heard” but insists that request was based on cost, not where any of the Lean consultants came from.

“Was there an opportunity because he had consultants based in Seattle, Houston, Florida and some other places – which had a little bit of a smaller cost than flying someone overseas – could he accommodate us in those requests as much as possible?” says Duncan.

Black says in the book that he only charged the province a flat rate of US$2,000 round-trip for each of the four Japanese team members.

“The political attacks – in stark contrast to the traditional Canadian preference for polite, non-confrontational communication – certainly didn’t help resolve any disagreements,” writes Black.

The NDP has repeatedly criticized the Lean program as a wasteful exercise, citing such examples as using a stopwatch to track the movements of a nurse for precisely four minutes and 59 seconds.

The government has said Lean has paid for itself by bringing about $125 million in savings, including day-to-day operations and the design for a new hospital in Moose Jaw.

The provincial auditor has reported that the government is now using Lean in 19 ministries and agencies, four post-secondary schools and 28 school divisions.