The first part of the book explains cost and quality issues facing U.S. healthcare. From that understanding, the second part then teaches healthcare providers a 46-step recipe to reduce costs and improve quality by using Toyota Lean Production methods. With industry experts citing that as much as 40% of the total cost of healthcare production is attributed to wasteful processes, it is logical that reducing waste will lower costs. This is the basis of this book.

Although other books have presented Toyota's lean methods, this book goes further by showing how to directly apply those successful methods to healthcare, where they are sorely needed. This book is intended to be a practical manual for healthcare providers to use to improve quality and reduce costs. It can be a multi-year strategic plan for healthcare providers to adopt.

This second edition includes additional improvement steps and five new appendices of practical examples authored by renowned lean experts.