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“I think we all struggle with our staffing shortages. But when you look at the redundancy in your system, you often find that people are creating their own work. I see Process Excellence as a facilitator for us to get the same work done faster with a smaller staff.”

Charlotte Taylor

Vice President, MedStar, Washington Hospital Center

Read this case study to learn how this hospital lab used Six Sigma to reduce turnaround time and improve quality

Client Results

East Kootenay Regional Hopsital

British Columbia Lab uses Lean to recover scarce workspace, cuts turnaround time by 47%

Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States uses Lean to cut average turnaround time by 26%, achieves $393,940 in annual labor savings

Over $393,000 in annual labor savings is achieved after Lean is introduced to Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States. While trying to ensure maximum efficiency for their new consolidated work space, average test time is improved by 26% and smooth-running operations reduces the reliance on overtime by 86%. Download this case history to read more.

Savannah's Memorial Health University Medical Center

Pharmacy at Memorial Health University Medical Center uses Lean to gain efficiency, increase productivity, improve space utilization, and reduce inventory

The Pharmacy at Savannah's Memorial Health University Medical Center experiences a 24% improvement in stock-out turnaround time and a $15,000 reduction in standing inventory once a Lean team is established. After struggling to provide high quality service under an extremely variable workload,the Lean team streamlines operations and creates a more efficient work flow. Download this case history for more information.

Riverside Medical Center

For Riverside Medical Center, “Lean is not just about better ROI; it’s actually fundamentally about better patient care.”

Faced with making cuts to an already "bare bones" operation in the lab, Riverside Medical Center turned to a Lean initiative to improve quality and reduce costs. Along the way, lab turnaround time improved by as much as 50% and the lab's floor space requirements were cut by 225 square feet.

Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center

The OR Department at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center uses Lean to cut unneeded inventory, saving $293,828.

Burdened by the complexity of managing 6,600 unique inventory items, the medical center applied Lean practices to identify 819 items that were no longer needed, streamlined the OR's supply chain, freed 3.2 FTEs for other assignments, and saved hundreds of thousands of dollars.

West Tennessee Healthcare

West Tennessee Healthcare combines Lean and Six Sigma to save $4.99 million over a three-year period.

When a planned expansion proved prohibitively expensive, the lab applied Lean methodology which improved quality, cut turnaround time, and saved $2.1 million. Once trained, the Lean team continued on its own to achieve $3.8 million.

HealthEast Laboratory

HealthEast Care System cuts turnaround time by 31% in one lab, 37% in another

Laboratory shrinks turnaround time by 31% and 37% at two campuses and experiences a savings of $359,000 in one year. Falling behind the competitors led the Emergency Department to consider point-of-care testing, until HealthEast initiated a Lean Project that dramatically improved the way work was processed. More... for more information.

Providence Health Care Anatomic Pathology Lab

With suboptimal turnaround and labor shortages on the horizon, managers of the Anatomic Pathology Lab at Providence Health Care knew they would have to make drastic changes. A Lean initiative (coached by ValuMetrix Services) helped turn the situation around, reducing turnaround time by an entire day.

Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center

Children’s hospital improves testing turnaround time by 27-56%

Concerned about its lab's productivity, Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center invited ValuMetrix Services to help it implement Lean practices. In just 12 weeks, the lab achieved dramatic improvements in turnaround time and increased its capacity while reassigning 5.9 FTEs and realizing more than $290,000 in savings.

Shawnee Mission Medical Center

The lab reduced testing turnaround time by 53%, saving over $160,000 a year

When funding for new construction fell through, the lab at Shawnee Mission Medical Center had to make do with its existing, severely overcrowded space. Under the guidance of ValuMetrix® Services, a Lean team designed a space-saving new workflow and achieved substantial labor and inventory cost savings.

Shawnee Mission Medical Center

Laboratory saves $414,000 per year and cuts turnaround time by 46%

It took more than an hour and a half to get inpatient blood test results at St. Paul's Hospital. Technologists were frantic in the morning and lightly busy in the afternoon. Knowing it could do better, the clinical lab invited ValuMetrix Services to train a team in Lean management techniques.

Washington Hospital Center

Hospital lab uses Six Sigma to reduce turnaround time and improve quality

Using Process Excellence tools, the ValuMetrix^® Services team identified the key contributors to high turnaround time, recommended steps that brought it down to acceptable levels, reduced staffing needs and saved Washington Hospital Center an estimated $79,000 a year.

West Tennessee Healthcare’s Jackson-Madison Laboratory

Laboratory use Process Excellence to improve turnaround time, cut annual labor costs, and reduce space requirements to avoid construction costs

Applying Process Excellence tools, Six Sigma, Lean Thinking and Design Excellence, the ValuMetrix Services team helped West Tennessee Healthcare’s Jackson-Madison Laboratory improve quality, cut turnaround time, and consolidate services, … all in a smaller facility. Average turnaround time from collection of the blood sample to receipt in the laboratory fell from 23 minutes to 6.5 minutes. Reductions in laboratory and phlebotomist staffing saved more than $950,000 in annual labor costs. The lab was able to consolidate its operations into a facility requiring just 40,000 sq. ft. of space, avoiding $1.2 million in construction costs.

DSI Laboratories

Immediate response lab speeds response by 53%, and improves productivity by 250%

DSI asked ValuMetrix Services to help identify and root out the causes of slow turnaround. Applying Process Excellence tools, the ValuMetrix team was able to improve quality, reduce turnaround time from 129 minutes to 42 minutes, increase phlebotomy productivity from fewer than two draws per hour to nine draws per hour and save DSI more than $160,000 a year through the reassignment of six phlebotomists to open laboratory positions.

DSI Laboratories

Medical reference and toxicology laboratory improves turnaround time by 54%, cuts costs by $250,000 per year

DSI asked ValuMetrix Services to help identify and fix the causes of blood samples to requiring rework. Applying Process Excellence tools, the ValuMetrix team was able to improve quality, reduce turnaround time, and cut staffing needs. First pass yield rose from 69% to 99%. Mean turnaround time fell from 70 minutes to just 40 minutes.

M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center uses LEAN to save more than $269,000/year, and avoid $2-million automation cost

Before investing in a costly automation project, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine invited ValuMetrix Services to help it “LEAN” it’s process. Turnaround time improved by 35% in inpatient areas, while staffing needs were reduced by 5%. The Center freed up 31% of its floor space, consolidated from five locations to two and achieved $269,810 in annual savings.

Stanford Blood Center

Stanford Blood Center Procurement Department cuts standing inventory by 7%, reduces reliance on expedited supply deliveries

Each time supplies ran out at the Stanford Blood Center, the Procurement Department paid a premium to have them replaced on a rush basis – and often compensated by ordering more than was needed. With the help of ValuMetrix Services, a two-person LEAN team overhauled the procurement process, ensuring more timely ordering, while saving time, money and storage space.

Stanford Blood Center

Stanford Blood Center cuts mobile location setup time by more than 1/3

The Stanford Blood Center sought an alternative to handling growth by adding staff. With the assistance of ValuMetrix Services, it found a way to decrease the time it takes to set up and repack a mobile donation site, reducing its reliance on overtime.

MEDTOX Laboratories

MEDTOX Laboratories used LEAN to reduce positive test turnaround time by 79%, and raise productivity by 22%

ValuMetrix Services trained MEDTOX teams in LEAN tools and took them through the process in a formalized way. After applying LEAN methodologies to three areas of production (receiving, screening and extractions), the lab reduced their expenses and improved profitability.

Dahl-Chase Diagnostic Services

Dahl-Chase Diagnostic Services used Six Sigma to cut defect rate by 97%, and save over $54k per year in staffing costs

As this lab prepared to move to a new facility, ValuMetrix consultants showed them how to manage the inter-departmental teams, collect data and present the data in a way that gained commitment to change.

Iowa Health Des Moines Laboratory

After in-house efforts yielded minor process improvements, Iowa Health Des Moines Laboratory invited ValuMetrix Services to take it through a LEAN initiative

In just 12 weeks the lab’s LEAN project improved turnaround times by 35-49% and add $250k in revenue with 4 fewer FTEs. Plus the team acquired the tools and skills to conduct future projects on their own.

TriCore References Laboratories

TriCore References Laboratories cuts cycle time by as much as 70% and recovers 1600 sq. ft. of floor space.

With a workforce struggling to handle it growing order volume, TriCore Reference Laboratories applies Lean to its workflow and creates a more relaxed work pace, dramatically improves lab's turnaround time, realizes $154,000 in annual labor savings and frees up 16,000 sq. ft. of space.

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