OpEx Spotlight: Jameson Rehm, Regional Manager, Process Improvement, Mount Carmel Health Systems

At the Center for Operational Excellence, we work alongside our members to foster a problem-solving culture that’s grounded in tried-and-true operational excellence tools, and that’s constant and far-reaching. One way we do that is by connecting industry executives, Fisher College of Business faculty, and our consortium of member companies. By learning from each other and accessing the resources Ohio State has to offer, member companies have the constant support needed to chart a path to excellence that builds resilience and adaptability in a rapidly changing world.

Our new OpEx Spotlight series highlights members of our OpEx community and allows them to share their experiences and perspectives with continuous improvement, organizational change, operational excellence, supply chain, operations, and any niche they feel passionate about.

Today, we are highlighting COE Board Member Jameson Rehm, MBA, Certified Lean Expert. Jameson is Regional Manager, Process Improvement, at Mount Carmel Health System. Jameson grew up volunteering in Hospice giving him a drive to transform healthcare to serve patients as a whole person, rather than a diagnosis. In the last 15 years, he has worked as an analyst, external and internal consultant and manager focusing on Lean process improvement and culture transformation. His career in continuous improvement started in 2005 as a Lean healthcare consultant teaching problem solving to leaders and front-line clinical staff for Kenagy & Associates, and then as a founding partner of Rule 4 Consulting. Jameson has since led teams to improve across the spectrum of the healthcare industry, applying Lean thinking and principles in and out of the direct care setting. He has focused on building cultures of continuous improvement through Lean Management Systems, Change Management Methodology, and Leader Development. 

With a tenure of 12 years at Mount Carmel, Jameson has led the Performance Excellence department for the last 5 years and succeeded in setting national standards for Lean Management within Trinity Health, the 2^nd largest Catholic health care system in the country. The results led through application of daily management and strategy deployment have been benchmarked by such fortune 500 companies as Nationwide Insurance.

How are you leveraging operational excellence to improve your career and/or organization?

Operational Excellence has been central to my career for 15 years in one way or another. For the past 6 years, I together with my team have been working to design and implement a Lean management system at Mount Carmel Health, through 3 CEO changes, 4 hospitals and multiple business units from Revenue Cycle to our Foundation, leadership buy-in and engagement truly becomes the most impactful component to performance improvement regardless of the toolbox and OpEx tradition.

What has been your greatest OpEx accomplishment?

Leading a team of OpEx professionals to coach and transform a hospital system to make year over year improvements in cost, quality and efficiency.

From 2016-2018, MCHS saw an unprecedented level of improvement financially, while reducing infections by between 50-70%. I am most proud of the inspiration I get from leaders who support their teams to provide excellent care to our patients.

Is there an area of topic within operational excellence that you’re most passionate about? Why?

I get most excited and passionate about Hoshin Kanri. The process that sets up all the work you must execute year after year. I've gone through many iterations and styles of this process, and I've seen the power it can give an organization.

What advice do you have for other OpEx professionals?

Results come and go. Sustainment will always be a challenge, even if well engineered. In healthcare, the environment can change so fast that you can re-engineer a process 3-4 times only to have the entire process become irrelevant.

Have an understanding of your overall impact based on the lives your work has improved, and the mindset that you never stop learning.