Lean Six Sigma in Healthcare

Keywords: Cost reduction; efficiency; innovation; quality improvement; service management. Abstract Healthcare, as any other service operation, requires systematic innovation efforts to remain competitive, cost efficient and up to date. In this article, we outline a methodology and present examples to illustrate how principles of Lean Thinking and Six Sigma can be combined to provide an effective framework for producing systematic innovation efforts in healthcare. The benefits of this approach are that healthcare cost increases can be kept in control, while quality is improved, and better healthcare is provided