Making a Mend
Lean and Six Sigma guided a hospital in redesigning its ER process to stave off delays and treat more patients
- Publication:
- Quality Progress
- Date:
- February 2023
- Issue:
- Volume 56 Issue 2
- Pages:
- pp. 12-19
- Author(s):
- Bedgood, Casey
- Organization(s):
- Navicent Health, Macon, GA
Abstract
A small hospital in Milledgeville, GA, undertook to reduce its emergency room (ER) left without receiving treatment (LWOT) rate, turning to lean and Six Sigma to find ways to reduce waste, improve processes and services and reduce variation in those services. LWOTs represent waste at the core, whether from process delays or excessive wait times. After using lean and Six Sigma to wring more value out of processes and change organizational culture toward continuous improvement and the customer experience, the hospital was able to address incoming patients’ complaints more quickly at each step in the process. Through leveraging data, proactivity in solving issues, acting quickly for each anomaly and listening to patients more carefully, the ER reduced LWOTs by 45% and customer complaints by 47% over two years.