The Dec. 27 Tribune Chronicle ran an AP article by Julie Carr Smyth that reported some encouraging information. The headline was, ‘’States seek efficiency using Japanese way.’’ It was a report of various states’ successes in reducing waste and improving the efficiencies of some of their services by using kaizen events, part of what is commonly called the Toyota System. It is also referred to as the Lean Production. Basically, this system employs methods of continuously challenging what’s being done, with the purpose of eliminating waste and improving quality and the flow of work and reducing costs. Many American manufacturing companies have been using this system for years now. I’ve long felt that Lean methods could improve health services and, in the process, the cost of health care. It’s widely accepted that the cost of health care is considered a national crisis and has been for decades. To date, the efforts to address this have mostly been well off the mark.