Quality in Healthcare

The Power of Quality in Healthcare

Quality plays a vital role in every facet of the healthcare industry, ensuring that processes, systems, and outcomes consistently meet high standards of safety, effectiveness, and efficiency. The professionals that drive quality not only support operational excellence and continuous improvement, but also directly impact patient outcomes and public health.

As the world’s largest quality membership association, ASQ connects quality professionals across industries to cutting-edge subject matter expertise, visibility to continuous improvement practices and trends, and engagement through events and focused communities. With an 80-year legacy of pioneering excellence, ASQ stands as the definitive authority in quality, guiding industries toward a brighter, safer future through time-tested wisdom and innovation. ASQ provides extensive support to the healthcare industry through a variety of resources, communities, and best practice guidance.

“At ASQ, we know that quality is essential to every healthcare journey. From medical device development to hospital operations, quality practices help ensure safer processes, stronger systems, and better outcomes.” - Sid Bhatanagar, ASQ CEO

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Find the right quality resources for your role

Clinical Quality & Patient Safety

Improve patient outcomes by reducing errors and avoiding adverse events. Quality tools and processes can be applied to targeted initiatives like infection control, fall prevention, or medication safety among many others, and provide a framework to identify and address areas of risk.

Resources include:

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Operations & Process Optimization

Increase efficiency and reduce waste by streamlining workflows and processes. Build higher capacity while reducing costs and improving patient access to services using proven concepts to optimize processes like lab testing, ED flow, OR scheduling, and cross-departmental patient care coordination.

Resources include:

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Quality Systems, Data & Regulatory Alignment

Reap the benefits of data integrity and better decision-making backed by data. Let stronger quality systems pave the way to a higher degree of accreditation readiness and regulatory compliance.

Resources include:

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Leadership & Transformation

Drive culture change and tackle large scale improvement projects like digital transformation. Build a system-wide quality culture to support strategic goals and gain a competitive edge.

Resources include:

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Healthcare Manufacturing & Life Sciences

Ensure quality and safety in devices, diagnostics, and pharmaceuticals. Produce reliable products that support better care, meet regulatory compliance, and avoid costly error that can damage your brand reputation and bottom line. Includes Medical Devices, Diagnostics, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech.

Resources include:

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Insights on Excellence Healthcare Industry Report

ASQE’s Insights on Excellence (IoE) research initiative supports benchmarking, continuous improvement, and organizational excellence. The 2024 ASQE Insights on Excellence Healthcare Industry Report examines the most statistically significant trends in quality emerging from the healthcare sector.

Download the report

Recommended Reading

The world’s largest publisher of quality-related products, ASQ offers six peer-reviewed journals and magazines covering a wide range of topics. Two of its most popular publications are Quality Progress and Lean & Six Sigma Review.

Quality Progress, ASQ’s flagship publication, features in-depth articles describing the application of innovative methods while Lean & Six Sigma Review is the first magazine addressing the specific needs of lean and Six Sigma professionals.

Nuts & Bolts: The Factory Inside the Hospital

Lean & Six Sigma Review | November 2023

Lean management principles, like SMED and the seven wastes, improve efficiency, quality, and costs in healthcare. At Ohio State University Hospital, reorganizing CT scan tasks boosted throughput by 20%, enabling faster diagnoses and treatments while benefiting both patients and staff. Learn how to apply lean management tools like these in healthcare settings.

Read

Prescribing ISO To Improve Performance

Quality Progress | May 2021

Navicent Health transformed its accreditation process by integrating ISO 9001:2015 standards, shifting from compliance to performance-focused improvement. Over four years, the health system aligned ISO principles with strategic goals, emphasizing leadership, cultural change, and knowledge sharing. This led to record-low nonconformities, improved performance, and lasting organizational benefits.

Read

Rightsizing Your Workforce

Lean & Six Sigma Review | November 2024

Discover what labor optimization is and is not, why it is important to capitalize on time and labor savings of a process improvement, and four key components to successful labor optimization. Emphasize continuous improvement, data-driven decisions, and maintaining quality while addressing workforce shortages and cost pressures for sustainable growth.

Read

Membership

ASQ Membership Benefits

The all-in-one ASQ Membership provides access to cutting-edge subject matter expertise, visibility to continuous improvement practices and trends, discounts on education, and engagement through events and communities—everything you need to grow in your career in healthcare and lead organizational changes that help create a brighter and bolder future.

Explore Membership

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Community

Build Connections with ASQ Technical Communities

ASQ members receive access to 26 industry-specific technical communities. The Healthcare, Medical Device, and Food, Drug, and Cosmetic communities were designed for professionals who are passionate about advancing the knowledge and practice of quality in various healthcare industry settings. These groups include doctors, nurses, medical technologists, hospital administrators, hospital staff, auditors, engineers, and others involved in healthcare quality.

As part of these technical communities, ASQ members can:

Network with peers and experts in the healthcare quality field
Share and learn best practices for improving patient care and organizational performance
Access resources, discussions, and events tailored to healthcare quality challenges
Stay updated on the latest trends, tools, and regulatory requirements in healthcare

Join ASQ

Three healthcare professionals stand together in a hospital or clinic setting, all looking to the right with focused expressions. On the left, a young man in light blue scrubs holds a bright blue clipboard. In the middle, a woman in business attire with a red lanyard and ID badge holds a dark folder and gestures with her right hand. On the right, a man in a white lab coat over royal blue scrubs, with a stethoscope around his neck, has his left hand in his pocket. The background is a semi-transparent, vibrant blue, creating a modern and professional atmosphere.

Events

Find new solutions at ASQ events

ASQ offers a variety of events to help you and your team upskill and implement quality and process improvement methods and connect with peers across industries.

Find the next event

A composite image featuring two contrasting scenes separated by a large, stylized blue graphic resembling the letter 'Q.' On the left, two men are engaged in conversation at ASQ’s World Conference on Quality and Improvement. One man, wearing a blue suit and glasses, holds a smartphone and a white bag, while the other, in a dark suit and light blue checkered shirt, also holds a smartphone. Both wear ID badges, and a crowd is visible in the blurred background. On the right, a vibrant Orlando, Floriday cityscape is shown at sunset, with modern high-rise buildings reflecting a body of water. A fountain with illuminated pink jets and a circular platform are visible in the water, set against a sky of orange, pink, and purple hues. The image conveys a mix of professional engagement and urban elegance.