Dr. John Kenagy knows healthcare as a physician, executive, scholar, advisor and patient. In
addition to 20 years experience as a vascular surgeon, he has been Chief of Surgery, Chief of
Staff and Regional Vice President for Business Development for a multi-state, not-for-profit
healthcare delivery system. And, most importantly, he has been a patient.
His frustration with current methods was fueled by an injury - he suffered a broken neck in a
fall from a tree. Critically injured, he discovered that his recovery depended on the efforts of
individuals working in an unpredictable and often unresponsive system. Searching for answers
beyond "try harder," he earned a management degree from Harvard University's Kennedy
School and was appointed Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School from 1998-2002.
His experience, research and teaching focused on the keys to success of resilient, highly
adaptive organizations that thrived when the rest failed to adapt and change.
He brought his discoveries to healthcare as Adaptive Design; ® a set of new, revitalizing choices
that restore the ideals of patient care by cultivating adaptability in the everyday work of the
organization and it's people. His management guidebook Designed to Adapt: Leading Healthcare
in Challenging Times was named 2011 Book of the Year in healthcare management.
Dr. Kenagy's speaking, teaching and advising help everyone, from the frontline to the Executive
Suite, deliver on the fundamental promise of their calling - getting patients exactly what they
need, safely, at continually lower cost. It's the way to fix healthcare.
His contributions have been widely recognized:
• MD with distinction from the University of Nebraska;
• Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Washington;
• Adjunct Professor of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh;
• Visiting Scholar, Harvard Business School (1998-2004).
• Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Business Executive Education
and the Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative in Healthcare.
• Speaking and consulting engagements throughout the US and in Canada.
• Testimony before the US Senate Commerce Committee.
• Author of "Service Quality in Health Care" for the Journal of the American Medical
Association, named the Best Healthcare Management Article of the Year.
• Co-author with Clayton Christensen of the first article on disruptive innovation in
healthcare for the Harvard Business Review
• Inspired and helped lead the first test of the Toyota Production System in healthcare.
• Coauthored Harvard Business School Teaching Cases that have been taught throughout
academia and in many healthcare, technology and manufacturing companies.
• Forbes Magazine featured Dr. Kenagy as "the man who would save healthcare."
Lead Like Toyota: Managing Knowledge, Innovation And Inspiration In Healthcare
Toyota has been recognized for years as a great company. The term "Lean" defines their powerful process-improvement methods. Many companies use Lean skills and tools. But the mystery was that Toyota's success has been extremely difficult for others to sustain.
That mystery has been solved. There is much more to the story than a great process-improvement method. Toyota's leadership and management have moved beyond industrial process management to become knowledge managers. Toyota uniquely manages knowledge to develop people - every person in the organization contributing to better meeting customer needs.
Dr. Kenagy's new book Lead Like Toyota is a true innovation in leadership and management. The book tells the story and gives you the methods, skills and tools that will turbo-charge your management team. His presentations introduce you to Adaptive Design and the secrets of managing knowledge to develop your #1 resource
Meeting The Challenge Of Adaptive Change And Disruptive Innovation
Great new technologies promise wonderful improvements in patient care. But improving patient care means more than buying technology. Success requires changing people's minds and, even with strong, effective leadership, that's a lot harder than most people realize.
Dr. John Kenagy uses his Harvard Business School research and healthcare experience to outline the challenge, threats and opportunities of innovation. The evidence is clear: to achieve lasting results, you can't just change "things," like facilities, processes, product lines, technology, or org charts. Sustainable competitive advantage requires changing minds and developing people - that's the missing link for most organizations.
Dr. Kenagy's method, Adaptive Design focuses on what to do and, most importantly, how to execute and develop your organization's DNA to be "designed to adapt."
Designed To Adapt: Prospering In Economic Downturns
There is a new economic reality in American healthcare. Investment capital is increasingly limited and governmental support is disappearing in a sea of red ink. You don't have to be an economic pundit to know it is going to get worse before it gets better.
Now is the time to act. Changing economic conditions present great opportunities to organizations that have the agility to adapt and change. The key is to understand that it is not what you are doing now that counts; its your ability to adapt what you are doing to a constantly changing world that really makes the difference.
Dr. Kenagy's research as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School and 37 years of health care experience show that the secret of success in hard times is continually generating more value from current resources, people and technology. His presentations show you how to use Adaptive Design to develop a Return on Assets business focus and build the capability to adapt into the DNA of your healthcare organization.
Ensuring Investment in Healthcare IT Doesn't Flatline:
Will current investments in IT and electronic medical records cure what ails healthcare? Not according to Dr. Kenagy, whose white paper for Microsoft found that the billions of dollars invested in health IT are not delivering on the promise. Dr. Kenagy says current health IT systems are too costly and do not have the speed, flexibility or adaptability needed to handle the dynamic, complex, unpredictable nature of healthcare. He believes the health IT systems of the future will be less costly, modular, fast, flexible, friendly, and responsive. Think cell phones, distributed networks, and locally improvable, not laptops, centralized systems and "wait and pay for the next version."
The Pulse of Patient Care in America is Weak and Thready
When President Obama announced another $313 billion in cuts to healthcare programs for the elderly and the poor, it signaled that there are no other options. For the last 40 years, Dr. Kenagy has seen the healthcare system try hard and fail at top-down solutions to curb soaring costs and, in his opinion, there are no recommendations in current cost control proposals that haven't been tried before. The result: we are paying more for less; and are hemorrhaging. He believes the only way to stop the bleeding is by building systems that meet the fundamental goal of healthcare - getting patients exactly what they need, when they need it and then capturing the knowledge and creativity of all our people to do this at lower cost.
