Implementing a focused and structured program for healthcare performance improvement is a huge step that requires a great deal of thought and numerous decisions. One of the most difficult decisions seems to be whether or not to dedicate full time resources as practitioners. In the resource constrained environment that most healthcare organizations operate in, there [...]

Below is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of our recently published book, Performance Improvement for Healthcare: Leading Change with Lean, Six Sigma, and Constraints Management Many hospitals have deployed Lean and/or Six Sigma successfully. As their Lean Six Sigma deployments reach maturity, they have the opportunity to take their performance improvements to new heights by [...]

Constraints Management A Force Multiplier for Healthcare Performance Improvement Join this dynamic webinar by registering here. When a hospital is presented with major regulatory changes that can impact revenues and margins, a robust performance improvement program must be part of the solution. However, not all programs are created equal. Take a look at an example [...]

Below is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of our recently published book, Performance Improvement for Healthcare: Leading Change with Lean, Six Sigma, and Constraints Management “In healthcare quality improvement, systems and processes are not synonymous, but they are interrelated. Within the scope of a process, there can be defined a system of interrelated components and [...]

Bob Sproull, an author, executive and business turnaround expert, to present at the 2012 Continuous Process Improvement Symposium based on his recently released book “Epiphanized: Integrating Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six Sigma.” Sproull’s presentation will include a case study of an initiative to improve aircraft availability and mission readiness using the strategy he advocates [...]

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”—ALBERT EINSTEIN Although plan-do-check-act (PDCA) was developed originally by the father of statistical quality control, Walter A. Shewhart, W. Edwards Deming, who was his student, later went on to develop Total Quality Management (TQM) and became a founding father [...]

Process improvement and innovation leaders, such as Intel, Honeywell, 3M and many other Fortune 500 businesses, have recently been incorporating TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) innovation methods into their quality programs to produce breakthrough process improvements. NOVACES applied these methods in a rapid improvement workshop to help one community hospital reduce patient length of [...]