Competition in the outpatient imaging center market is intense. One
northern California hospital that operates multiple imaging centers created a program to
listen to their customer feedback and develop a roadmap for improvement. A laundry list of
improvement ideas was forming, but one central theme was voiced repeatedly - decrease
report turnaround time (TAT). Physicians wanted to be able to diagnose their patients
sooner; and patients wanted to know the status of their health as soon as possible. The
center's leadership decided to utilize the Six Sigma toolkit and the DMAIC process to
determine the root causes for current turnaround times. Data would pinpoint the necessary
improvements and drive management decisions. Three months after the project, the director
of the facility said, "Physicians are now wondering why they do not get the same turnaround
from some of our other facilities."
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