Six Sigma initiative

What is Six Sigma?
It is a process improvement methodology which involves resolving process oriented problems and process re-engineering to ensure: A) Customer Satisfaction, and B) Increase in the Organization’s bottom-line. This is achieved by reducing process wastage, decrease in defects giving rise to increase in high-quality deliverables.

For a Six Sigma project, you can apply one of the 2 principles: DMAIC and DMADV.

D - Define the project goals and customer (internal and external) deliverables
M - Measure the process to determine current performance
A - Analyze and determine the root cause(s) of the defects
I - Improve the process by eliminating defects
C - Control future process performance

DMAIC should be used when a product or process is in existence at your company but is not meeting customer specifications or is not performing adequately.

D - Define the project goals and customer (internal and external) deliverables
M - Measure and determine customer needs and specifications
A - Analyze the process options to meet the customer needs
D - Design (detailed) the process to meet the customer needs
V - Verify the design performance and ability to meet customer needs

DMADV is also called DFSS (Designed for Six Sigma).

DMADV should be used when:
A) you need to develop a NEW process in your organization
B) DMAIC has not helped and does not give expected results

Six Sigma in Healthcare
Six Sigma may be used in a range of situations varying from business transformations and strategic improvements to simpler problem-solving exercises. Six Sigma projects in healthcare organizations tend to focus on the operational aspects of service delivery rather than the clinical decision-making process.
Some of the processes ValueProcess has selected for improvement include:

• Process Timeliness (TAT)
• Error Reduction (Quality)
• Leaner process (Eliminate wastages in process)
• Human Resource Management
• Billing Accuracy