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The project focused on building provider buy-in, improving the process for receiving and selecting DME products, and sustaining gains through annual reviews, added committee actions, and an ongoing scorecard to confirm required paperwork for billing. Lean methods were clarified, including value stream mapping and Gemba walks, with attention to issues such as stocking C-collars, corrected through targeted labeling and color coding.",{"@graph":63,"@context":119},[64,80,102],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":11,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/presentations/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/mbqip-may-2023-monthly-article-poster-qas-improving-facility-durable-medical-equipment-process/241069/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/mbqip-may-2023-monthly-article-poster-qas-improving-facility-durable-medical-equipment-process/241069.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Mabel","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-09-11",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":101},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",9,{"@type":103,"mainEntity":104},"FAQPage",[105,111,115],{"name":106,"@type":107,"acceptedAnswer":108},"What was the biggest barrier to getting buy-in, and how was it overcome?","Question",{"text":109,"@type":110},"Getting buy-in from providers was the main barrier. It was resolved by requesting a medical staff champion to lead product selection and inventory, connecting that champion with the DME sales representative, and addressing concerns through facilitated conversations.","Answer",{"name":112,"@type":107,"acceptedAnswer":113},"How does the project explain “Lean Value Stream Mapping” and the spaghetti/kaizen approach?",{"text":114,"@type":110},"The team used spaghetti mapping to visualize the actual workflow, with lines representing the flow and “storm clouds” (kaizens) marking redundancy. The goal was to reduce redundancies and streamline workflows, moving from the current-state map with spaghetti lines to an ideal state with improved flow.",{"name":116,"@type":107,"acceptedAnswer":117},"What supply-related challenge was identified beyond the initial DME workflow, and what was done?",{"text":118,"@type":110},"Potential issues were identified with stocking C-collars. The team introduced color-coding of supply bins to differentiate adult versus pediatric items, correcting inadvertent product mixing and backsliding of charges after the initial improvement cycle.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":121,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":123,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":125,"site_id":56},241069,1791743754,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":128},{"doc_id":125,"user_id":129,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":130,"doc_module":9,"category_id":8,"category_name":11,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":131,"file_id":132,"file_url":133,"file_type":134,"file_size":135,"view_count":101,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":76,"language":136,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":137,"faqs":138,"seo_title":139,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":140,"read_time":9},7971474920318,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/74000ee537e6b0ca360?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1788430171632181674","MBQIP – May 2023 Monthly Article  \nPoster Q&As: “Improving Facility Durable Medical Equipment Process”  \nBackground  \nClark Fork Valley Hospital (CFVH) in Plains, Montana identified an opportunity to improve the process for management of durable medical equipment (DME) products in their facility, including increasing knowledge regarding what products are available and where they are located to ensure patients consistently received the correct DME products. National Virtual QI Mentor, Kitty Strowbridge, performance improvement manager at CFVH, was part of the team that adopted a systemic and well-thought-out approach for optimizing the process of receiving DME products. They put together this conference style poster to share the details of their project including the method, results, and conclusion. Upon reviewing the poster, Kitty’s fellow QI mentors had a few follow-up questions about the project.  \nQuestions & Answers  \nWhat part of the team, if any, was the most difficult to get ‘buy-in’ from regarding this project? How was this overcome?  \nGetting buy-in from providers was the biggest barrier we had when our team formed. We have 14 providers who utilize the DME inventory representing primary care, surgical services, and the emergency room. Initially, we presented this project to the medical staff at large and did not gain traction. However, we successfully removed this barrier when we specifically requested a medical staff champion to lead the provider product selection and inventory process. We chose the provider who had the most frequent complaints about the products and was the squeaky wheel. We connected the medical staff champion with the DME Sales representative, and they developed anew relationship through this connection which alleviated 99% of the provider’s concerns. Once those concerns were alleviated, this provider spearheaded product review in a collaborative manner with team members, the DME provider, and the medical staff at large. The simple act of providing a venue to have conversations decreased this barrier.  \nExplain the “Lean Value Stream Mapping” methodology  \nFor this particular project, we deployed spaghetti mapping to support visualization of the actual workflow within the unit(s) . This model of lean value stream mapping supports identifying redundancy in a process while illustrating actual flow of a process utilizing a floor plan. Areas of flow are represented by lines; each line is a “noodle” and the term spaghetti mapping comes from this application. Kaizens, or storm clouds, populate the map where redundancy in flow is identified. These storm clouds then become the area of focus for improvement. The goal is to reduce redundancies and improve the flow. You can see the original map with spaghetti lines in red with kaizens throughout representing the issues. The second map, the ideal state, lacks those red spaghetti lines illustrating that through the improvement process described, we were able to improve staff efficiency through centralization of product and streamlining workflows.  \nAs part of the Lean Value Stream mapping (VSM) process, were other supply issue challenges identified?  \nThrough this initial phase of VSM we focused only on the DME workflow. However, we did identify that there were potential issues with the stocking of the C – collars. Which we then took to a new cycle of improvement once we completed this initial project. For the C-Collars, we actually color coded the supply bins to help differentiate adult from pediatric. The need for this was identified when the products were inadvertently intermixed, and we experienced some backsliding of charges after our initial PI cycle was implemented. However, this is typical with  \ncycles of improvement and through color coding and labeling we were able to quickly correct the new issues identified.  \nAs part of the process, did the team identify a need for a facility-wide supply committee to help standardize ordering?  \nWe have an existi","cbCaijqYDVMAR0WY","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijqYDVMAR0WY","pdf",261240,"English","# Background\n# Questions & Answers\n## Provider buy-in and project adoption\n## Lean Value Stream Mapping methodology\n## Additional supply issue challenges\n## Facility-wide supply committee and sustainability\n## Training for frontline staff and new hires\n## Gemba Walk explanation","[{\"question\":\"What was the biggest barrier to getting buy-in, and how was it overcome?\",\"answer\":\"Getting buy-in from providers was the main barrier. It was resolved by requesting a medical staff champion to lead product selection and inventory, connecting that champion with the DME sales representative, and addressing concerns through facilitated conversations.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the project explain “Lean Value Stream Mapping” and the spaghetti/kaizen approach?\",\"answer\":\"The team used spaghetti mapping to visualize the actual workflow, with lines representing the flow and “storm clouds” (kaizens) marking redundancy. The goal was to reduce redundancies and streamline workflows, moving from the current-state map with spaghetti lines to an ideal state with improved flow.\"},{\"question\":\"What supply-related challenge was identified beyond the initial DME workflow, and what was done?\",\"answer\":\"Potential issues were identified with stocking C-collars. The team introduced color-coding of supply bins to differentiate adult versus pediatric items, correcting inadvertent product mixing and backsliding of charges after the initial improvement cycle.\"}]","MBQIP May 2023 Monthly Article - Poster Q&As - Improving Facility Durable Medical Equipment Process | PDF",1789170067]