MUKILTEO, WA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 09/05/06 -- Gemba Research, LLC, an internationally recognized consulting firm in Lean enterprise transformation, announces the expansion of its Lean Healthcare consulting services for hospitals and physician practices with the addition of Patrick Shumaker to its consulting staff as its Vice President, Healthcare Improvement.

Patrick brings over 25 years experience in the application of Lean Thinking to hospital operations and physician practice management from both a leadership and consulting perspective.

"I have repeatedly seen how Lean Thinking enables healthcare organizations to successfully tackle the heart of the issue they face; how to safely, effectively and efficiently care for patients every hour of every single day. I am excited to be part of a team at Gemba that knows how to teach and implement Lean Thinking."

Gemba Research, headquartered in Mukilteo, Washington, has many years of experience in successfully applying Lean Thinking principles to a wide variety of industries and business organizations including healthcare. This wide experience enables Gemba to meet the challenge of applying Lean tools and principles based on the Toyota Production System to the healthcare environment. Gemba brings an honest and objective outside perspective and many years of experience in educating management teams and facilitating positive change. Gemba's experience both in healthcare and in a wider range of industries creates unique synergies that will benefit any healthcare organization. Gemba offers a flexible yet structured approach to healthcare improvement projects that deliver rapid, sustainable results.

If your organization struggles with quality and delivery issues that keep reappearing, the lack of a standard approach to problem solving, declining productivity gains, below standard patient satisfaction scores, or you are not progressing as you would like on your Lean implementation journey, Gemba Research can help. Lean Healthcare provides you the means to develop, improve and sustain processes to meet the needs and exceed the expectations of your patients and other customers.

You can learn more about us at www.leanhealthcare.com or contact Patrick Shumaker at Patrick.Shumaker@Gemba.com or call 512-771-6888.

Contact:
Charles “Luke” Lukey
(425) 356-3150