Executive Learning, Inc. is a nationally-recognized healthcare performance improvement, training and consulting firm. Executive Learning, Inc. (ELI) began in Knoxville, TN in 1984. ELI's first two clients were ALCOA and Ford Motor Company manufacturing plants, both of which hired the firm to help develop the culture and environment within which statistical process control could be implemented.

In 1987, ELI moved to Brentwood, TN and began work with its first healthcare client, Hospital Corporation of America. In the years following, ELI has worked almost exclusively in the healthcare arena. Clients have included a range of organizations from large healthcare systems, such as the Bon Secours Health System of Marriotsville, Maryland; St. Jude's Medical Center of Memphis; Children's Hospital of Dallas; the Mercy Health System of Farmington Hills, Michigan; and the Henry Ford Health System, to individual hospitals, long term care facilities, physician group practices, outpatient clinics, managed care organizations and health plans, and freestanding specialty organizations. ELI has also been involved as faculty and content support for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement dating back to its predecessor, the National Demonstration Project on Quality Improvement in Healthcare.

In the early years of ELI's work in the area of improvement, primary emphasis was placed on the basic tools of improvement and on how the structure and culture of organization needed to be transformed to support improvement and to implement the philosophy of Dr. W Edwards Deming. The firm has built on the Deming philosophy as it applies to strategic planning and deployment; cost containment and reduction; case management; patient care redesign; accelerated improvement; customer service; medical practice improvement; and organizational performance measurement of clinical outcomes, finances, and community health.

Since 1996, ELI has used its experience in healthcare customer service to develop Customer for Life, a comprehensive set of training and consulting services. These services are aimed at the development of service delivery systems within hospitals, physician practices, and integrated healthcare systems. True to its origins, Customer for Life is grounded in improvement principles and instilling customer focus throughout the organization.

In recent years, ELI has relocated to downtown Nashville, TN and expanded our services to offer training opportunities and materials covering an array of skills needed by managers in organizations.