Six Sigma In Healthcare

With the growing health concerns around the world coupled with importance and benefits of Six Sigma, Six Sigma in Healthcare evolved. Imagine a way to raise healthcare delivery to previously unknown levels, boost quality of patient service, improve productivity in every nursing unit and operating room, and rebuild the spirit and satisfaction of patient care.

It is possible! It’s called Six Sigma in Healthcare. And, we’d like to share some insight into how you can optimize your equipment, improve patient service delivery and quality, and even help drive development and application of new technology through GE Medical Systems’ Six Sigma in Healthcare.

Once a healthcare organization has decided that Six Sigma in Healthcare can be an effective approach to improving the many services it delivers, the question then becomes how does it know where to start implementing the methodology's statistical process tools.

Process issues or variability in healthcare may exist around a particular piece of technology, within a certain department or care area, along service lines such as cardiology, or even across the entire organization. Potential Six Sigma projects may relate to operational processes such as billing, registration or workflow, or they may involve clinical procedures such as medication administration or Intensive Care Unit protocols. But do all roads lead to success and can an organization travel them all simultaneously? While the organization undoubtedly has multiple priorities that must be weighed and kept in balance – and many stakeholders to satisfy – there are some basic guidelines for Six Sigma project selection within a healthcare organization.

First consideration for Six Sigma in Healthcare should be the 'Customer': When reviewing and prioritizing the opportunities in an organization, the first consideration for Six Sigma in Healthcare should be the "customer" and knowing the CTQs (critical to quality elements) that will drive the project. The customer in a healthcare project may be the patient, physician, nursing staff, administration, department manager or other stakeholder, depending on the process being reviewed.

It also is important to understand the complexity of the problem to be addressed and how many variables must be dealt with. If the problem is fairly complex with a number of measurable response variables, it may be a viable candidate for Six Sigma. Not every issue rises to the level of Six Sigma rigor for a solution, however. There are change management tools such as Change Acceleration Process (CAP) and Work-Out that have been effectively applied in cases that simply need greater direction, facilitation and consensus building with the right people involved for Six Sigma in Healthcare.

Common Characteristics of Six Sigma in Healthcare Projects: While each healthcare organization has specific needs and issues to resolve, the most successful Six Sigma projects usually share common characteristics:

• Feasibility from a resource and data standpoint
• Unambiguous parameters and clearly defined goals
• Alignment with critical hospital issues and strategic initiatives
• Provision of visible benefits for the customer
• Inclusion of a Green Belt or Black Belt working within the project area
• Ability to show measurable improvement
• Linkage with other projects for a combined effect
• Personal connection for the project leader

The human side of performance improvement – especially in a service industry such as healthcare – must not be overlooked. Since Six Sigma in Healthcare requires commitment and willingness to change, it's important that those who support or participate in the project recognize that a problem exists and that a solution must be found through objective methods.

Some Additional Tips for Beginners: For an organization or team undertaking its first wave of Six Sigma projects as part of a training or improvement initiative, there are a few additional tips to keep in mind:

• Make sure the problem is controllable and the solution is to your benefit.
• Keep it simple – save eliminating world hunger for your second project.
• Select issues that will produce immediate and tangible benefits to the organization – early and visible wins provide momentum.
• Choose something with boundaries – both in time and effort.
• Try to select a project that has a comprehensive, rigorous data tracking system in place (usually financial or operational data).
• Choose something that is non-controversial and won't eliminate jobs.
• Choose something with an element of fun – it's a long road.

To help keep efforts focused in the right areas, it also is advisable to use some form of prioritization matrix. It is important to weight the key CTQs with well-defined operational definitions for scoring. The following matrix was developed to help one health system prioritize and select a project within cardiac services, by weighting factors such as the impact on clinical excellence, physician satisfaction and financial impact.

Six Sigma in Healthcare is a powerful tool that can be used to streamline processes and improve the quality of healthcare delivery. As the healthcare industry grapples with financial pressures, limited resources, changing regulations, personnel shortages, the public’s increased attention to quality of care, and other challenges, many organizations have found hope from an unexpected source—Six Sigma. Six Sigma In Healthcare is an extremely effective strategy that businesses outside of healthcare have been using for several years to improve customer satisfaction, achieve extremely high levels of process performance, and to rapidly identify cost savings. More recently, healthcare organizations, providers, and accreditation groups have expanded their quality initiatives to include implementing Six Sigma strategies with solid success.

Six Sigma In Healthcare can greatly improve a healthcare organization’s financial and operational performance because it identifies and aligns improvement initiatives with strategic objectives and business goals and looks at key processes across the entire system. A large mid western hospital implemented Six Sigma to tackle the problem of having a significant number of inaccurate case carts delivered to their delivery rooms. The problem caused surgery delays and significant time lost in retrieving correct instruments and supplies. Surgeons and staff were very dissatisfied. A Six Sigma project team in Healthcare defined the problem, collected data and measurements, analyzed the current process, investigated key factors, and implemented an improved process with recommendations on how to sustain the improvement.

One fundamental key to Six Sigma In Healthcare organizational success is the extent to which leaders take an active role in participating and influencing the application and acceptance of Six Sigma’s discipline and philosophy into their culture. Leaders need to establish accountability and link Six Sigma activities to strategic goals. Projects based on Six Sigma in healthcare are focusing on direct care delivery, administrative support, and financial administration. Examples of beneficial projects based on Six Sigma in healthcare include:

• Patient satisfaction
• Speed and accuracy of admissions
• Bed availability
• Care coordination
• Accuracy of lab results
• Rapid emergency room treatment
• End of life care
• Surgery scheduling
• Inventory control
• Supply chain
• Billing accuracy
• Insurance denials
• Documentation
• Human resource