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To be fair to the lean process, it truly is hard to measure its more nebulous contributions.

Consider its application to health-care delivery in Saskatchewan — the first jurisdiction anywhere to engage in a robust system-wide use of the program.

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Even if one can measure time or dollars, can one truly measure the value of a life saved?

There again, can one truly say if life-saving measures were the result of systemic lean changes, or the conscientious efforts of professional health-care providers?

This is a puzzle that has plagued the Saskatchewan Party government since it adopted its $40-million-plus John Black and Associates lean training program, which followed the more organic “Time to Care” lean process, which was more about input from nurses and other frontline providers.

Of course, lean can and should be about both the dollars saved and other things not as easily measured.

Lean is mandated to create a culture of ongoing improvement — a phrase repeated numerous times in the lean mission statement contained in Vol. 2 of Provincial Auditor Judy Ferguson’s 2015 report, released Tuesday.