Is your business interested in implementing Six Sigma? Are you curious how other organizations have used Six Sigma philosophies (and the outcomes they’ve achieved)?
Well, cast your eyes toward Bengaluru, India. There’s a healthcare facility there called the Command Hospital Air Force, and it was just named the best defense hospital in the entire country.
For the fifth time.
The Indian Ministry of Defense who awarded the facility issued a statement in early January:
“Command Hospital Air Force, Bengaluru applied for this award and submitted citation and all requisite certificates in support of the exemplary healthcare being provided to its clientele for the past five decades,” the statement said. “The jury after duly evaluating the documents and citation conferred the prestigious award of the Best Defence Hospital of the Year 2017.”
The award is part of the Six Sigma Healthcare Excellence Awards, which is bestowed to healthcare organizations across 20 different categories every year. Some of those categories include…
- Best Hospital of the Year
- Creative Entrepreneur of the Year
- Healthcare Business Mentor of the Year
- Best Quality Manager of the Year
… and more.
These awards are significant boons for upstart organizations, or businesses that are early into their Six Sigma journey. They’re positive affirmations that a company is making the right moves.
Malcolm Baldrige Award
No award signifies that more in the United States than the Malcolm Baldrige Award for Process Improvement.
In 2017, two American healthcare organizations took home the Baldrige Award.
The first was Castle Medical Center, out of Kailua, HI. The second was Southcentral Foundation of Anchorage, Alaska, which operates in Anchorage, AK.
Hawaii and Alaska – there’s your proof that Six Sigma can flourish in any weather climate, in case you were worried about implementing process improvement over the winter.
But the Indian Air Force Command Hospital, out in Bengaluru, also proves that Six Sigma works in healthcare facilities around the world, in any culture, with any population – foreign or domestic, rich or poor, rural or urban… process improvement doesn’t fundamentally change.
Robert Fangmeyer, the director of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, noted the geographical disparity of the award winners in 2017, stating in a news release, “This year’s honorees demonstrate clearly that organizations of all kinds can achieve sustainable high performance.”
And many healthcare organizations are doing exactly that, with great success.
The 2017 HealthLeaders Media Patient Experience Survey discovered that 13% of surveyed healthcare organizations saw major improvements in patient scores after implementing process improvement measures. Another 44% reported moderate improvement, and 30% saw slight improvements.
That’s 87% of hospitals reporting patient satisfaction improvement after adopting process improvement philosophies. They’re learning the same lesson that healthcare organizations in Bengaluru, Kailua, and Anchorage already know – healthcare organizations of all shapes and sizes can achieve amazing things when they adopt Six Sigma.
