Lean Six Sigma and Business Process

Lean for Healthcare

• Traditional Classroom: 3.5-day
• Virtual Instructor-led: Eight 3-hour sessions

Lean is a way of thinking about quality and efficiency. It focuses on reduction of waste, improvement of flow, simplification, standardization, and improving the experiences of patients, payers, and providers. Lean is also a growth engine—developing the capability to grow without increasing costs. Lean is a great starting point on a continuous improvement journey. It is practical and results-oriented, but isn’t difficult.

This highly interactive Lean Belt course builds on our Introduction to Lean curriculum with practical examples from healthcare and other industries. For best ROI and increased learning retention, we recommend that each participant come to class with a small Lean project. Each training module includes exercises with the new tools we learn, and we try to incorporate participants’ projects when possible.

Target Audience

Individuals who will benefit from this course include personnel at any level of the organization who want to gain a greater breadth and depth of instruction on Lean tools and methods relative to the healthcare industry. This course is ideal for individuals or teams that want to lead or work on a Lean project.

Learning Objectives

The Lean for Healthcare course equips healthcare professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to apply Lean principles and methodologies to improve efficiency and quality—as well as improve patient, payer, and provider satisfaction within healthcare organizations. Participants will gain an understanding of Lean concepts tailored to the healthcare industry.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to identify areas for improvement in healthcare processes, implement Lean tools to enhance efficiency, and foster a culture of continuous improvement that positively impacts both operational outcomes and the overall patient and provider experience.

Prerequisites

Individuals who take this course must complete the Introduction to Lean curriculum. They must bring a real project to class.

Course Outline

Introduction and Course Overview

Project Charter

Project and Change Management

Gathering the Voice of the Customer

Documenting the Process

• SIPOC
• Detailed Process Maps
• Spaghetti Diagram

Data Collection

Quick Wins and Kaizen

Key Lean Concepts

• TIMWOODS

Process Flow Improvement

• Takt Time
• Constraint Analysis
• Process Balancing
• Batch Size Basics
• Setup Reduction Basics

Plan and Implement Solutions

Mistake-Proofing

Process Control Methods

Wrap-Up and Action Planning

• Value Analysis
• Process Value Efficiency
• Little’s Law

Transactional Lean Simulation

Root Cause ID and Validation

• 5 Whys, Fishbone
• Why-Because Diagram

5S

Solution Development

• Traditional and Nontraditional Brainstorming Techniques
• Simplification Methods
• Streamlining Concepts