Navicent Health Black Belt Fellow Improves EMS Response Times through Lean Six Sigma
ISE Magazine has included in its February issue a study entitled "Optimizing emergency services with Lean Six Sigma" by Casey Bedgood, Black Belt Leadership Fellow with Atrium Health Navicent's Center for Disruption & Innovation (CfDI). The study examines the benefits of applying the principles of Lean Six Sigma in an emergency medical setting in order to improve efficiency while reducing redundancy and error.
"Applying Lean Six Sigma to Atrium Health Navicent's Emergency Services saved approximately 37,000 minutes of emergency response times over a multicounty region in the first year after implementation. Time equals lives. Therefore, thousands of patients received higher quality care and service when they needed it most thanks to the Lean Six Sigma process improvement," said Bedgood.
Atrium Health Navicent implemented Lean/Six Sigma, a highly disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating waste, improving outcomes, and delivering extraordinary service, in 2014. Bedgood, a Six Sigma black belt and leadership fellow with Atrium Health Navicent's Center for Disruption and Innovation, was the first Black Belt trained under the Atrium Health Navicent program. The director of Atrium Health Navicent's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) from 2013 to 2015, Bedgood has served Atrium Health Navicent EMS in various capacities for almost 20 years, including as a paramedic, field training officer and operations manager.
"Lean Six Sigma is applicable to global industries ranging from auto manufacturing and defense to healthcare. The unique aspect of Lean Six Sigma in healthcare is that process improvement directly improves people's health and wellbeing. As exhibited in this study, Lean Six Sigma has the potential to save lives. The Black Belt fellows at Atrium Health Navicent are continually seeking new avenues for implementation as we improve our processes," said Simeon Sessley, Executive Director of CfDI.
"Efforts such as these are core to the work we are doing at Atrium Health Navicent's Center for Disruption and Innovation, and will be critical in helping our health system - as well as many others nationwide - prepare for future relevance and value-based care," said Christopher Cornue, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer for Atrium Health Navicent.
To view Bedgood's article, please click here. ISE Magazine is a monthly publication of the Institute of Industrial and System Engineers and serves a diverse readership of professionals and students with a common interest of industrial engineering. As a leading voice in the industry, ISE Magazine strives to provide useful, timely and thought-provoking content to assist readers as they enhance their professional capabilities, improve organizational performance and develop the profession.
About Atrium Health Navicent
Atrium Health Navicent was incorporated on November 17, 1994, as a nonprofit corporation whose primary purpose is to coordinate the Medical Center, Navicent Health and other affiliated entities in their mission of providing a comprehensive continuum of high quality, reasonably priced healthcare services to the region. Atrium Health Navicent has 830 beds for medical, surgical, rehabilitation and hospice purposes. The health system includes The Medical Center, Navicent Health, a nationally recognized tertiary teaching hospital; Atrium Health Navicent Beverly Knight Olson Children's Hospital, the region's only dedicated pediatric hospital; Medical Center of Peach County, Atrium Health Navicent, a rural critical access hospital; Rehabilitation Hospital, Atrium Health Navicent, the region's oldest and most experienced rehabilitation provider; Pine Pointe, Atrium Health Navicent, which provides palliative and hospice care in homes and in its facility; Carlyle Place, Atrium Health Navicent, the area's first continuing care retirement community; Navicent Health Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Atrium Health Navicent; as well as diagnostic and home care services. For more information, please visit www.navicenthealth.org.