Key Points

• Six Sigma readily adapts to healthcare, optimizing processes and delivering better overall care to patients.
• Healthcare facilities do well to implement a culture of continuous improvement, with successful examples of the methodology’s adoption hinging on the drive to maintain the culture.
• Six Sigma is surprisingly effective in healthcare, doing away with many of the inefficiencies that plague standard medical practices.

Six Sigma in healthcare seems like an unlikely pairing at first glance. After all, Six Sigma is oriented towards less strict industries like manufacturing, compared to the slew of regulatory bodies any healthcare provider needs to pay attention to. That said, it isn’t impossible.

Some providers leverage the teachings and principles of Six Sigma to make a notable difference in the services they render to patients. While there is no such thing as a universal product in medicine, there have been strides taken to better enhance caregiver efficiency and bedside rapport by medical staff. So, let’s dive in and look at which providers are leveraging Six Sigma for the better.

Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic has been a champion of Six Sigma in healthcare since 2006. The provider has a department devoted solely to continuous improvement, showing their dedication to the teachings and principles of the methodology. Further, there have been some necessary adaptations of the skills and techniques behind Six Sigma to better suit the medical field.

Cleveland Clinic is steadily focusing on what matters most in a given service. This focuses on areas like patient safety, quality of service, enjoyment of service, and value provided for services rendered. The organization is also leveraging visual management tools to provide a real-time flow of data and metrics for anyone involved to see.

Six Sigma in healthcare is perhaps best exemplified by what the Cleveland Clinic has done. Patient wait times are down, the operating room is moving more efficiently, and the flow of patients to providers is streamlined to provide the best possible experience. Caregivers are empowered, and the staff is constantly undergoing training and building skills for better problem-solving and general process improvement.

Stanford Hospital

It can seem somewhat morbid to analyze process improvement when it’s a matter of life and death. However, for Stanford Hospital, it is a matter of pride that the organization is so ably using Six Sigma in healthcare capacities. One notable area is in CABG, or coronary artery bypass graft, surgery. The procedure itself is rather complex, but heart surgery generally isn’t for the unseasoned professional.

Where Stanford has leveraged the teachings of Six Sigma comes down to how it approaches the procedure itself. Waste has been reduced, resulting in a savings of an estimated $15 million on the total surgeries performed. Further, the quality of the surgery itself has been drastically improved, with an estimated mortality rate of 3.7% from the previous 7.1%.

Further, intubation is common after such a drastic procedure. Previously, Stanford was intubating patients for between 12 to 16 hours. Since adhering to the teachings and principles of Six Sigma, that period has dropped to a more approachable 4 to 6 hours. It isn’t just heart surgery where these lessons are applied either; the entire organization has seen a complete transformation.

Naval Hospitals

The United States Department of Defense enacted the “Get Real, Get Better” initiative in 2008. This mandate meant that all military hospitals would take a special focus toward continuous process improvement and the principles behind Lean Six Sigma in the services rendered. While general military healthcare is superlative in most cases, there is certainly room for improvement.

In the 17 years since the mandate, personnel are getting trained, certified, and spreading the knowledge of Lean Six Sigma in healthcare. It’s one thing for only certain individuals to be certified at an organization, but the U.S. Navy invests heavily in making sure all personnel have the training, skills, and knowledge necessary to succeed.

This exhaustive training aims to empower and allow medical personnel to focus on areas where inefficiencies are present. As a result, operating rooms are performing far better than expected. Mass immunization efforts have been standardized and streamlined to the point of being nearly seamless. It has also impacted the Navy’s supply chain and logistics, with procurement costs lowered and inventory management optimized.

Yale New Haven Medical Center

The Yale New Haven Medical Center has actively integrated Six Sigma in healthcare over the last few years, often with some Lean principles tossed in for good measure. The name of the game here is continuous improvement, and that’s one area where YNHMC is excelling. With a 75% reduction of bloodstream infections over the last few years, there is an estimated savings of $1.2 million being passed on.

Additionally, YNMHC is doing well to optimize fairly typical processes you might find in your usual hospital. Administrative backend has been tightened up, patient charges have been optimized, and even the likes of medication delivery have benefited from the changes enacted by the provider.

YNMHC has done well to foster a culture centered around continuous improvement. The savings, quality of care, and overall efficiency of the organization are something to admire and learn from. After all, they’re showing that anyone can leverage the power of Six Sigma in healthcare, and with massive results to boot.

Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital

Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles, California, has been a strong proponent of Lean Six Sigma in healthcare, with the integration of the methodology being there from the very start. As a relatively new healthcare organization, it makes sense to design systems from the top down with Lean Six Sigma in mind, and that’s exactly what MLKCH has done.

Lean Six Sigma has been tightly integrated proactively and efficiently. Of particular note is how the hospital has optimized its IT infrastructure. The investment in the technology portion of the business has allowed the hospital itself to better manage the likes of customer data, meaning patient admissions are streamlined the whole way through.

That said, there’s some potent groundwork that laid the foundation for this successful implementation. Leadership buy-in was done right from the very start, with Susan Burrows, the hospital’s Vice President of Human Resources, certified in the methodology. Further, Tracy Donegan, the CIO and Innovation Officer, has completed numerous Lean Six Sigma projects before even being hired on by the hospital.

Catholic Health Services of Long Island

Catholic Health Services of Long Island is our final talking point today, and has done some impressive work when embracing Lean Six Sigma in healthcare. To this end, the organization has made substantial investments in developing what it calls “robust process improvement tools” to better serve patients and staff alike.

The commitment to Lean Six Sigma isn’t just a token showing, either, but rather a full commitment from the organization. Staff are encouraged to get certified, with some doctors on staff even receiving Black and Green Belt certifications.

The strategic and long-term commitment to Lean Six Sigma stands to serve Catholic Health well. Optimizing processes for better care, administrative work, and even things like patient intake do quite a bit to do away with some of the inefficiencies and sadly common practices seen in hospitals across the country.

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

Looking for something else to go with your morning coffee? You might do well to learn the five focusing steps in the Theory of Constraints. These guiding principles can help you hone in on your processes and get to the bottom of whatever problems are plaguing them.

Additionally, you might want to learn about how Scrum has revolutionized project management. This popular approach got its start in software development, but other industries are catching on to just how powerful it can be when applied to their businesses.

Conclusion

Six Sigma in healthcare isn’t just a pipe dream, but a reality for some organizations. Like any other business looking to adopt the methodology, getting leadership buy-in and taking stock of what your company is doing are valuable steps for continual success. If you provide your personnel with the tools and means to learn, you might be surprised by the results.