Using Design for Lean Six Sigma in Healthcare Product Development

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Helen Titus, Marketing Director, Digital Capture Solutions, Carestream

Back in 2009, USA Today reported that “Each of the nation’s 5,700 hospitals must cut $2.6 million a year on average in costs in the next 10 years to meet the demands of President Obama’s proposed health care reform, a daunting task when half of those hospitals lose money.”

While healthcare reform continues to evolve, the recognition that eliminating efficiencies allows us to work smarter, not harder—and provide more cost-efficient higher quality care—is fueling lean six sigma process improvements throughout the hospital ecosystem.

But hospital providers aren’t the only ones turning to lean principles. Lean Six Sigma is driving innovation in our product development to ensure what hits hospital hallways has been designed through disciplined problem solving that helps overcome your challenges. Challenges like:

How do we bring the very best image quality to the sickest patients in the hospital (those in the ICU) in a way that is the most efficient and easiest for the technologist?

You can learn about the role LSS played in the design of our mobile x-ray system — the CARESTREAM DRX-Revolution — over on Blogging Radiography.