TAG:
Six Sigma
Six Sigma, like Lean, is used to improve the quality and efficiency of operational processes. During the past decade, these process improvement techniques increasingly have been applied outside of the manufacturing sector, for example, in healthcare.
While Lean focuses on identifying ways to streamline processes and reduce waste, Six Sigma aims predominantly to make processes, such as those used in clinical laboratories and pathology group labs, more uniform and precise through the application of statistical methods.
Along with Lean, this process improvement technique has become popular with labs as a way to streamline laboratory processes, reduce costs, increase productivity, and improve quality in a time when labs are increasingly pressured by downward price trends for lab tests. At the same time, labs are able to increase value offered to “customers,” that is, patients.
The principles of a Six Sigma-based system were originally developed by Bill Smith of Motorola in 1986 as a way of eliminating defects in manufacturing, where a defect is understood to be a product or process that fails to meet customers’ expectations and requirements. The name refers to a quality level defined as the near-perfect defect rate of 3.4 defects per million opportunities. As a process improvement strategy, it gained much attention through its association with General Electric and its former CEO Jack Welsh.
Six Sigma also involves the training and certification of designated process specialists (called black belts, green belts, or other similar titles) within organizations to help guide Six Sigma improvement efforts. Other distinctive features include the expectation that process quality improvements be translated into financial metrics to assess value and the active involvement of top management in all initiatives.
Six Sigma is often combined with Lean management techniques to produce a methodology that relies on a collaborative team effort to improve performance by systematically removing waste (Lean) as well as defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, transportation, inventory, motion and extra-processing (Six Sigma).
Lab Innovators in Europe Have Solutions for USA
By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXXI, No. 13 – September 23, 2024 Issue
CEO SUMMARY: Rapid advances in a wide range of technologies over the past 15 years are enabling entrepreneurs to create transformative products for use by clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups. The Dark Report recently toured Europe to visit several such innovative companies…
Don’t Automate Bad Work Processes in Microbiology
By Scott Wallask | From the Volume XXX, No. 13 – September 11, 2023 Issue
CEO SUMMARY: Automation is not always right for every lab’s microbiology department, according to consultants from bioMérieux. When evaluating automated instruments, it is necessary to review wo…
Eight Macro Trends for Clinical Labs in 2023
By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXX, No. 1 – January 3, 2023 Issue
CEO SUMMARY: Laboratory administrators and pathologists will want to carefully study eight important trends that will guide their business strategies in 2023. Many of these macro trends center on financial and operational difficulties and ways to steer around these obstacles. Anothe…
Insights and Advice about the Lab Staffing Crisis
By Scott Wallask | From the Volume XXIX, No. 14 – October 10, 2022 Issue
CEO SUMMARY: For the past decade, it’s been recognized that the supply of skilled laboratory professionals is inadequate to meet the needs of the nation’s clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups. Leadership at American Medical Technologists recommends steps that labs…
Consumer Trends, Quality Management, and Labs
By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXIX, No. 13 – September 19, 2022 Issue
TODAY’S HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IS MARKED by uncertainty and unprecedented pressures. Every clinical laboratory and pathology group faces the triple whammy of shrinking budgets, staff shortages, and a rate of inflation that drives up the cost of supplies and salaries. …
Lean Is Smart Approach to Major Lab Cost Savings
By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIX, No. 13 – September 19, 2022 Issue
CEO SUMMARY: It’s a time when clinical labs are under extreme pressure to cut costs, even as they deal with understaffing. One proven approach to reducing expenses while preserving quality is to apply Lean methods in conjunction with Six Sigma tools. It is often true that successf…
Solutions to Lab Staffing, Supply, Revenue Problems
By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIX, No. 12 – August 29, 2022 Issue
CEO SUMMARY: Responding to requests from numerous lab managers, The Dark Report is organizing a one-and-a-half-day program that will come to your city. Workshop leaders are from labs su…
Rural Hospital Lab Hits Automation Home Run
By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIX, No. 1 – January 10, 2022 Issue
CEO SUMMARY: With the hospital adding specialist physicians and at the same time enjoying sustained growth in outreach test volume, the lab was hit with the dual need to expand the in-house test menu and reconfigure workflow to handle predictions of ongoing growth in outreach testin…
hc1, Visiun, and Viewics: Analytics Market Evolves
By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXVIII, No. 2 – February 8, 2021 Issue
CEO SUMMARY: To understand any development in the marketplace, it is best to follow the money. That Roche, Quest Diagnostics, and LabCorp spent money either to purchase or partner with a lab analytics company in the past 36 months indicates that these enterprises believe acquiring or …
Labs Begin Applying Lean to Cut Costs, Add Value
By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXIV No. 15 – October 30, 2017 Issue
CEO SUMMARY: In more than 40 presentations by 55 speakers, two big themes dominated the 11th annual Lab Quality Confab in New Orleans last week. One theme is the urgent need to cut clinical laboratory costs. The second theme is the need for both clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXI, No. 14 – October 14, 2024
For the second time in the past 16 months, respected health systems have taken steps to collaborate specifically to advance value-based care. Also, several statewide pilot programs—each involving tens of thousands of newborns—are publishing studies that demonstrate how exome, whole genome sequencing, and rapid whole genome sequencing can deliver both improved patient outcomes and a return on investment.
See the full table of contentsHow Much Laboratory Business Intelligence Have You Missed?
Lab leaders rely on THE DARK REPORT for actionable intelligence on important developments in the business of laboratory testing. Maximize the money you make-and the money you keep! Best of all, it is released every three weeks!
Sign up for TDR Insider
Join the Dark Intelligence Group FREE and get TDR Insider FREE!
Never miss a single update on the issues that matter to you and your business.
Topics
- Anatomic Pathology
- Clinical Chemistry
- Clinical Laboratory
- Clinical Laboratory Trends
- Digital Pathology
- Genetic Testing
- In Vitro Diagnostics
- IVD/Lab Informatics
- Lab Intelligence
- Lab Marketplace
- Lab Risk & Compliance
- Laboratory Automation
- Laboratory Billing
- Laboratory Compliance
- Laboratory Equipment
- Laboratory Information Systems
- Laboratory Management
- Lean Six Sigma
- Managed Care Contracts
- Molecular Diagnostics
- Pathology Trends
- People
- Uncategorized
The Dark Report • 21806 Briarcliff Dr • Spicewood, TX 78669
Phone: 512-264-7103 • Toll Free Number: 800-560-6363
Email: info@darkreport.com
© 2024 The Dark Report. All rights reserved.