Key Points

• Leadership buy-in is crucial for your implementation’s chances of success.
• Continuous improvement needs to be cultivated at an organizational level.
• Healthcare is a challenging industry to adapt Six Sigma for, but it isn’t impossible with the right considerations and infrastructure in place.

Six Sigma in healthcare is a fine fit, but there are always going to be things you don’t plan for in the mix of it. There are few industries better suited for Six Sigma than healthcare, and we’ve certainly seen more organizations pivoting towards it in recent years. However, it can be tough to stick the landing if you aren’t taking the right precautions. So, today, we’re looking at some of the biggest challenges and considerations you’ll need to keep in mind before implementing Six Sigma in your healthcare facility.

Challenges for Six Sigma in Healthcare

Healthcare isn’t likely many of the industries we cover here. It has a unique set of challenges you won’t find anywhere else when it comes to trying any new business approach. While Six Sigma in healthcare isn’t an impossible thing to accomplish, you’ll run into some unique issues nevertheless. These are easy enough to overcome with the right game plan and employee buy-in, but you might find both of those are far harder to obtain.

Resistance to Change

One of the biggest issues you’ll run across is just an unwillingness to change. For long-time employees, doctors, nurses, and so forth, there can be quite a bit of resistance to change. After all, Six Sigma is that manufacturing methodology, right? Despite whatever reputation Six Sigma has in your workplace, it isn’t a rigid means of industrializing any business.

They likely deal with structure and standard operating procedures every day at your healthcare facility. This is a key time to invest in the services of a good change manager if you are looking to implement Six Sigma in healthcare capacities. They can readily navigate an unwillingness to change while keeping everyone on the same page.

At the end of the day, Six Sigma isn’t about making work harder, more structured, and so forth. Instead, it is just a means of providing the best possible services. It might require more work at the onset of the approach’s implementation, but that is the same with any new methodology or technology implementation.

Data Complexity

The healthcare industry has several data points to pull from. While this is great for a data-driven approach like Six Sigma, it can pose certain issues. Without the means to readily interpret and present this data, which can be quite complex, mind you, you’re not going to be able to leverage it effectively.

Further, many of these data points are going to fall under regulation, as considerations like HIPAA in the United States have to be abided by. Another issue that is going to plague your early data collection efforts is going to be determining and defining what a defect is. Healthcare isn’t like manufacturing a phone, where you can point to the issue in question.

It is going to take time and careful thought as to what you need to collect, and how you’re going to measure it. There isn’t a fixed service in healthcare, as every patient’s needs are different across the board. This might be a thorn in your side when considering Six Sigma in healthcare, but getting this out of the way now is saving headaches down the road.

Leadership

I’ve said this many times, but leadership buy-in and engagement are paramount for the success of any approach, methodology, or technology. When leaders and managers aren’t championing what an organization is seeking to adopt en masse, then it is doomed to failure. For Six Sigma in healthcare to succeed, you need strong and confirmed leadership buy-in.

Other problems do come to mind, however, like a lack of budget for the education and training needed to elevate even just a few individuals to Green Belts or Black Belts. For rural healthcare facilities, this might simply be untenable in terms of situations.

Leadership is going to be more attuned to the issues and problems of your organization, especially when it comes to the money side of things. However, that is why it is important to get together and discuss the why behind this. Six Sigma can benefit any organization. Fear and uncertainty are only going to stop the innovations that any organization could experience.

The Healthcare Industry

One of the biggest issues with Six Sigma in healthcare is the very industry itself. Healthcare is a challenging, complex industry. You have regulatory bodies and to consider, even before you start going about process improvement cycles. Further, there isn’t a fixed range of services and products on offer. Healthcare is tailored in the moment for a patient, rather than them coming in for specific services offered by any facility.

The morality behind any decisions a healthcare provider makes is also going to be at the top of the heap. Your patients deserve privacy and respect, so you will have to take care when implementing any process improvements in the first place.

Top Considerations for Six Sigma in Healthcare

It isn’t all doom and gloom when it comes to planning your Six Sigma in healthcare initiative. With the right sort of considerations at the start, you can circumvent quite a few of the major issues you might run into. Of course, that doesn’t mean it is going to be nothing but smooth sailing, but you can eliminate several issues with the right planning ahead of time.

Leadership Buy-in

Before you do anything else, you’ll want to meet with the leaders and managers in your organization and make your case. Six Sigma in healthcare has shown quite a few benefits, namely in reducing inefficiencies and delivering better services to your patients. There might be some grousing about turning healthcare into a product, but that’s fine. The important thing is you want everyone on the same page and ready to make a change.

If you’re met with any sort of resistance, then your effort’s chances of success are slim.

Continuous Improvement

Six Sigma is built upon the concept of continuous improvement. You might iron out the kinks in a process today, but you can do even better down the line. Improvement isn’t a fixed point, but rather something that is a constant fixture in the workplace utilizing Six Sigma. You need to build a culture around the notion of improvement, as it is key for the success of any Six Sigma business.

Education

You’re going to have to find the means to get at least a few people in your organization certified. That isn’t the tough part. The tough part is getting enough educational materials to the rest of your staff so they understand what is taking place in your organization. Further, you’ll want to train some of your employees on how to best interpret the data points gathered.

Project Selection and Management

Picking the right projects is a tough nut to crack for some businesses. However, you don’t need to worry so much when considering Six Sigma in healthcare. Yes, the right project selections are going to yield better results when it comes to the cycle of continuous improvement. When you do have mistakes or failures, which everyone does, that presents itself as a fantastic learning opportunity.

At the start, however, I’d focus on easily attainable goals. You want to pick easy projects that show the power of Six Sigma. That’ll help convince some of the more stubborn leadership as to its efficacy as well.

Data Infrastructure

What good is data if you don’t have the means to process it? It’s a tall order, but this is where you want to start investing in the systems needed to interpret, analyze, and ultimately collect the data you’re using. Members of your staff should be trained on the technology, understanding how best practices in maintaining data privacy can be applied while also improving the quality of the information gathered.

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

Still hungry for more tips and tricks? You might do well to learn how to foster collaboration and communication during your next Kaizen event. While these are rapid events, getting everyone to pitch in and help is going to affect the work done by your organization as you start implementing those improvements.

Additionally, you might want to learn about how to avoid scope creep in BPR projects. BPR is such a drastic and radical undertaking that going in with clearly defined project parameters is going to be worth its weight in gold.

Conclusion

Six Sigma in healthcare is a natural fit, especially when you consider that the customer, or patient, is front and center. While it might not be an easy transition for some facilities, just about any business around could benefit from using Six Sigma.

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