Applying Six Sigma to Healthcare

While the business world has incorporated Six Sigma in leaps and bounds, the health care community has been reticent to employ the strategy in hospitals and other health services facilities.  That trepidation has been due to the fact that many health care managers are either unaware of the Six Sigma program or are not convinced that it can be effectively applied to the health care community.

Six Sigma is designed to eliminate errors.  In few arenas is this more important than in healthcare.  As demand and expectations for medical care increase, it becomes increasingly important for health care providers to streamline their processes and to become more error-free.  Six Sigma is able to achieve very real and documentable bottom line improvements in both financial and preformance indicators.  This is primarily due to the fact that while health care is an individualized service, underlying that service is a number of regimented and regulatable smaller tasks. SalesMastersWorld reports:

Analyzing and modifying human performance in these environments is complex, but Six Sigma provides the tools and methodology required to achieve significant long-term improvements.