SOURCE: Rucker and Associates
RALEIGH, NC–(Marketwire – August 31, 2010) – Healthcare experts got a dose of Lean Six Sigma principles when Rucker and Associates presented its best industry practices to ISH, Inc. to help them better understand the power of Lean Six Sigma for efficiency and productivity. Florida-based ISH, Inc. has developed hundreds of quality improvement initiatives at many of the nation’s leading healthcare organizations. Working with Rucker has been their first exposure to Lean Six Sigma principles in action.
ISH, Inc. is a leading provider of office processing and time management software for the healthcare industry. Bonnie Smith of Rucker and Associates handled the presentation to administrators at ISH, Inc., providing them with information on ways to integrate Lean Six Sigma principles into everyday operations to improve performance.
According to Smith, the strategy at ISH, Inc. focused on lead-time to reduce defects and improve the company’s workflow. “Finding ways to improve what we refer to as ‘profit-busters’ will not only decrease waiting times and improve patient care but save a healthcare organization money,” she said.
Smith’s seven profit-busters that plague the industry include: waiting, over-processing, over-production, indecision, hand-offs, loop-backs and excess inventory.
She uses Rucker case examples to explain: “Hospitals that use Lean Six Sigma have saved $16 million through efficiency improvements that include: reducing emergency room wait times by one hour, reducing turnaround times for patient tests from 74 to 40 minutes, lowering in-patient registration questions from 39 to six, and more timely accounts receivables,” she said.
“Controlling these efficiencies helps healthcare organizations save valuable time and resources, which impacts the bottom line,” said Smith, an efficiency expert who played a pivotal role in creating the synthesis of Lean principles and Six Sigma tools now known as Lean Six Sigma.
Healthcare organizations are more actively using Lean processes to improve clinical trials and supply chain management. According to Rucker statistics, Lean Six Sigma has helped hundreds of healthcare organizations improve quality measures and increase bottom line profitability.
Rucker and Associates is a high-performance consultancy dedicated to helping companies discover dramatic new efficiencies using Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma improvement methodologies. Rucker’s hands-on mentoring process with clients produces dramatic results — training teams to accelerate change and implement continuous improvement. Every Rucker project features an unconditional guarantee. http://ruckerassociates.com/.
Headquartered in Fairfield, N.J., ISH, Inc. is a leading national provider of professional services for healthcare, including: Perioperative, Sterile Processing, ED, EMR, Supply Chain, Finance, HR/PR, Time and Attendance, Scheduling, Document Imaging, Interim Management. ISH has delivered business improvement solutions and information technology implementations to prominent healthcare providers throughout the nation since 1989. With a staff of more than 150 professionals, an extensive best practice library developed from over 500 clients, and a powerful program management methodology, ISH is positioned to deliver the results you need when you need them. http://www.ishinc.com.
Contact:
Scott Misner
(919) 235-0940
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