Healthcare facilities are adopting Electronic Health Records (EHR) more rapidly than ever. EHRs allow healthcare facilities to improve quality and boost efficiency through the application of data mining on large pools of data. In the 90s, organizations applied data mining for credit scoring and the detection of fraud. More healthcare providers are starting to realize […]
Value-Added Time in Healthcare and Its Importance
Value-added time is an extremely important concept to study if you’re trying to optimize the flow of any process or system of processes, and it has special value in some specific environments. Typically, areas where response time is critical tend to benefit more from a stronger approach to this factor, and healthcare […]
Statistical Process Control Methods in Healthcare Settings: An Overview
Statistical process control is a tool with multiple applications, and it can easily be adapted to various environments. When it comes to healthcare, it’s one of the best ways to ensure that change is controlled precisely, and that the primary focus remains on improving the condition of each patient. Healthcare as a whole is a […]
How Run Charts Can Drive Improvement in Healthcare Settings
The run chart is a very simple, yet very powerful tool that sees many various kinds of uses across different industries and sectors. Some people tend to ignore it due to its apparent shallowness and inability to convey complex concepts, but the truth is that this kind of simplicity can actually be extremely beneficial in […]
5 Key Lean Six Sigma Tools Used in Improving Healthcare Wait Times
Healthcare is a field that can always benefit from more optimizations and improvements, and long wait times are probably the most common complaint among facilities across the whole world. It makes sense too, as in many cases a patient’s need for attention will be urgent – at least from their perspective – while on the […]
Applying the Theory of Constraints to Healthcare
The theory of constraints (TOC) is a methodology that seeks to maximize the potential of any system by investigating its constraints, and figuring out the critical ones. From there, the system can be safely expanded in directions where the constraints are not at their limit yet, allowing the company to move forward towards improved productivity […]
Advances With Lean Six Sigma and Healthcare
Just like any other organization, healthcare organizations do their business through processes, and any process can be studied and improved using basic Lean Six Sigma methods. The core value stream is built around having a patient arrive, receive treatment (or not), and then leave. The treatments vary, and how the entrance and exit take place […]
[VIDEO] Lean Six Sigma Approaches in Healthcare
![[VIDEO] Lean Six Sigma Approaches in Healthcare](https://www.shmula.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/i-dixcoeanq-150x150.jpg)
Lean principles have been used in manufacturing for decades. We know that lean principles can be successfully applied to the delivery of healthcare. Although healthcare differs in many ways from manufacturing, there are also significant similarities. Patient care professionals must rely on multiple, complex processes to accomplish their tasks and provide value to the customer or […]
Healthcare: Improving Quality and Innovation With Lean Principles
No other industry places such a high a premium on quality of service as healthcare. Given the essential requirement of quality in the healthcare industry, consumers expect providers to lead the way in innovation and quality efforts in the services they provide. As a percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP), we spend more on […]
[VIDEO] The Eight Types of Waste in Healthcare
![[VIDEO] The Eight Types of Waste in Healthcare](https://www.shmula.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ktnpprdksog-150x150.jpg)
Introducing lean thinking in an organization must be a whole-system strategy. Those at the very top of the organization must lead it. It requires significant change management throughout an entire organization, which can be traumatic and difficult. Strong commitment and inspiring leadership from senior leaders is essential to the success of an effort this challenging. One of […]