HJBR Nov/Dec 2019

Healthcare Journal of BATON ROUGE I  NOV / DEC 2019 21 realized that she needed to use Lean Six Sigma and let the data drive the improve- ments. In themidst of the search for the per- fect procedure, she and the team launched a search for the ideal ice chest. Richard’s team tested several types, ranging from the uber-expensiveYeti brand to dirt-cheap Sty- rofoam chests found at gas stations. In the end, Richard discovered that the most reli- able and affordable ice chest to travel across the state, sometimes in blazing hot tempera- tures, plugs into a cigarette lighter. After months of ice chest testing, analyz- ing courier routes, learning how to improve upon procedures, and even performing test experiments to expand acceptable temper- ature ranges, Richard said the lab was able to reduce rejections from 15 percent to less than 3 percent within a fewmonths.The suc- cess meant that the Office of Public Health could ensure that the vast majority of its specimens would help health care provid- ers accurately diagnose everything from sexually transmitted infections to salmo- nella, and the odd diseases that have to be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The push for continuous quality improve- ment is coming from the highest levels, par- ticularly LDH Secretary Dr. Rebekah Gee and Deputy Secretary Mark Thomas. Gee said she has long wanted to create a culture of continuous quality improvement—she tried to do it even before she was secretary—but she said it can’t really be done without lead- ership being fully on board. “What’s differ- ent about continuous quality improvement is that it’s strategic action versus strategic planning,” Gee said. “People are used to planning and coming up with our objec- tives and key goals, but what a lot of orga- nizations don’t do is act.”  The idea to use Lean Six Sigma as Lou- isiana Department of Health’s key contin- uous quality improvement training pro- grambegan at a Rotary Clubmeeting where Thomasmet Richard’s husband, Chard Rich- ard. During the course of that meeting, Chard made the connection and shared his wife’s problem-solving skills. He urgedThomas to ask his wife Mendy about Lean Six Sigma, whichThomas had heard of. What he didn’t realize was that he had a Master Black Belt working there. Thomas said the timing of the meet- ing was ideal because he had been strat- egizing about ways to improve programs and more effectively deliver services. “The stars aligned,” Thomas said. LDH wanted to implement a more formal process that would improve efficiency and streamline processes. ”Lean Six Sigma is a method- ology that has been used in both the pub- lic and private sectors very successfully,” Thomas said. Louisiana Department of Health began the rollout of Lean Six Sigma with two-day training sessions for about 50 leaders from throughout the department, that allowed Richard works with a human resource team to identify process steps to understand where bottlenecks occur, and where the greatest delay happens.