Improving the Body Imaging Division at the University of Virginia Health System

This field-based case explores the University of Virginia's Body Imaging Division (BID) along with the group's new director, Arun Krishnaraj, who is trying to assess and ameliorate the frustrations, confusions, delays, and other issues BID and its patients are dealing with. Krishnaraj knew instinctively that there was much untapped potential in BID and significant value that could be created for the patients receiving care there. In addition, the entire health system and all BID employees would benefit from removing the waste in the various processes. The key would be moving beyond individual definitions of the issues toward a commonly accepted description of both the problem and the best approach to finding real solutions. The case challenges the students to define a problem-solving process and implement Lean/A3 thinking to address BID's problems. The case can be sued to show how Lean thinking can be applied in a nonmanufacturing setting, specifically health care.