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The "Healthcare Informatics" magazine, January 2006 issue cover story is about Six Sigma Practices for the Healthcare Industry.

Six Sigma is a process-improvement methodology that is highly data-driven, and highly focused on achieving very specific, data-documented efficiency improvements, cost savings, and customer satisfaction enhancements.

It seems that executives at hospitals and health plans who have led Six Sigma initiatives are proud of the process changes and cost savings it has brought. They seem to love Six Sigma's focus on the bottom line and quantifiable results.

It is believed that the Six Sigma work can bring important benefits in healthcare for at least three substantial reasons:

• The funding for improvement projects at healthcare organizations is limited, so when one is undertaken, senior executives are demanding increasingly solid ROI--a strong orientation of Six Sigma.
• The complexity of healthcare processes requires objective data as the foundation of any improvement-driven activity.
• The rigorousness of Six Sigma work is particularly appropriate for the rather unorganized delivery of care and management of business operations in healthcare.

The full article is available at: Six Sigma Practices

Related article: Lean, Sigma, Kaizen - will they work for healthcare?