Lean Six Sigma is the best performance improvement methodology for small rural hospitals to simultaneously improve revenue, quality of care, and patient, staff and provider satisfaction. In the course of solving an important problem, team members learn the key tools of Lean Six Sigma that will enable them to excel in all facets of their work.
Improvement teams comprise front line staff from all departments touching the project. This enables interdepartmental communication that helps them understand each other’s needs, see the impact of errors, and allows them to work together to redesign their own processes to better serve the whole. When new processes are designed by staff, buy-in is nearly automatic and change far more likely to stick.
Past Results
Using this approach we have been able to help hospital improvement teams:
- Eliminate write-offs of $20,000+/- per month;
- Reduce errors on admission documentation by 99.8%
- Reduce reprocessing of outpatient service claims by 99.8%
- Reduce AR by $1.9 million dollars.
Each of these projects was completed within our 4-5 month improvement cycle and the gains have been maintained since project wrap-up. The money freed-up by the improvement teams has been redirected to creating more patient value and putting the hospitals in better competitive position.
