Lean Six Sigma:

Whipping Healthcare Into Shape

Healthcare Headache or Improvement Opportunity?

As we move forward, the healthcare industry will be serving a double edged sword, and in an effort to reduce or eliminate the pain, the MAGNUMUS need for process improvement and quality metrics is ESSENTIAL. Specifically in these times it is necessary to eliminate non-value added items. Times are tough for all, and to reduce waste is paramount.

As the baby boom generation ages, the US will see the majority of its population in their senior years. Adding to the already short supply of medical professionals, the increasing services that will be needed, if not already overwhelming, will be out of control. To add to that, President Obama’s Healthcare plan, which is an overall positive effort to improve quality, will unfortunately increase regulation, policies, and constraints on the industry.  Thus, causing another dramatic financial burden on all facilities.

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Rehabilitation jobs in medical and healthcare industry are fast growing career options at present. Physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists, occupational therapist assistants and speech language pathologists can find well-paid jobs in the healthcare industry. Rehabilitation job opportunities exist in various healthcare centers and medical centers throughout the US.

Nature of Rehabilitation Jobs

Rehabilitation professionals provide round-the-clock service according to the changing needs of disabled individuals, helping them to perform their routine activities. Irrespective of the age of the patients, they are bound to serve people with various disabilities including fractures, injuries, neurological, psychiatric and many other orthopedic problems. They examine, diagnose, evaluate and formulate various treatment plans based on the diagnosis and medical reports of the patients.

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Technological developments are happening at a brisk pace, overtaking existing systems and educational developments.

The ever-increasing demand in this sector has had negative impact, leading to overcrowding of hospitals and customer complaints.

Main Objectives

The Six Sigma methodology aligned with the healthcare sector is a very good option to bring about process improvements with quick results. Improvements are required in common areas such as cost management, service provision and quality of clinical services in healthcare organizations.

The major objectives of quality healthcare relate to safety of patients, quality services for patient happiness and reduced turnover of staff by providing good working conditions. Sufficient operating margins are also a main goal.

For example, in critical areas, such as the operating room and the entire process of surgery, there may be issues such as pre-op delays, unavailability of surgeons, anesthetists and even some equipment. In these cases, a Six Sigma project that applies the lean concept to pre-op process can bring about major improvements.

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With the increase in the number of patients visiting healthcare facilities in the United States, the need for qualified medical professionals is steadily increasing. Professional therapists who are graduated in Physical therapy (PT), Occupational Therapy (OT) and Speech Language Pathology (SLP) are much sought after for the various vacancies existing in healthcare industries in the US.

To grab an opportunity in the field, candidates need to be a graduate in either of these disciplines and should ideally have adequate experience in the field. The salary and benefit packages provided by healthcare firms for therapists vary according to the experience and qualifications of candidates. Common benefits provided for professional therapists include:

•    401 tax savings plan
•    Health and life insurance
•    Section 125 Cafeteria plan
•    Professional liability insurance
•    Paid housing
•    Continuing education

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Healthcare Groups And Forums For Women Will Provide You With Much Needed Comfort

Some women go through issues and healthcare related problems that only other women would understand. And with healthcare being as expensive as it is today, it would help if you had someone there to talk to whenever you had a question that wouldn’t cost you money to see them constantly.

That’s why many women are joining healthcare groups for women. These support groups are where women with similar issues can bond and talk to each other; and essentially help each other through whatever they’re going through. No matter what kind of problem you’re having, there’s a healthcare group for women out there that’s waiting for you to join.

If you have a problem that you’re going through such as cervical cancer, or some other women related problem that is terminal, it would help immensely to seek out a healthcare group for women where you can relate with other women going through similar issues.

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The idea of a nationalized healthcare system has been around for a long time, and like most other social ideas, it sounds good when you first hear it.  Healthcare for everyone in the United States would be a dream come true for lots of families but the problems with universal healthcare far outweigh the benefits.  Many countries have tried this and failed because of some basic ideas that aren’t even being considered.

1. The Competition – or lack there of.  One of the things that made this country great is the free market principle of competition.  Doctors spend years in medical school to graduate and join the ranks of practicing MDs.  When they do, they usually have huge debts to repay and big dreams of being successful, rich doctors.  Competition creates winners and these doctors strive to be the best so they can make a name for themselves and ultimately make more money.  In a universal healthcare system, the government decides what a doctor can charge and they all make the same amount.  There is no longer a reason for a doctor to strive to be the best because there is no reward for doing so.  This hinders medical advancement and makes everyone take the same sub-standard healthcare; it also greatly reduces the drive for people to become doctors at all.  I understand that the need to help others should always come first, but that won’t pay off years of student loans and put food on the table.
2. The Cost – somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 trillion per year.  That makes the recent stimulus package from congress seem small by comparison.  Large numbers like this tend to fall on deaf ears because no one really knows how much that is.  To give you an idea, it’s $10,000 per year for every person living in this country.  The reason healthcare costs have risen to where they are is because we have already begun moving toward socialized healthcare for several years now.  It works like this:  Medicare and Medicaid put about 20% of the country in a free healthcare program, but someone has to pay for it; so the other 80% see a rise in their healthcare costs.  This causes more people from the 80% to lose their healthcare because they can no longer afford it and they join the other 20% who are getting it for free.  Healthcare costs continue to rise for those who are paying for it as more and more people get it for free; but in the end, this money has to come from somewhere.  The only way to fix this problem is to un-socialize the system and make healthcare affordable to more people.  One company with a solution is Ameriplan Health.  In this health program, doctors offer big discounts for all their services in exchange for payment from the patient… no insurance or big government to get in the way.
3. The Government – can’t do anything efficiently.  Every program that our government has taken over dies a slow death.  They have ruined retirement with social security, and forced more people into poverty through welfare.  This is the same group of people that pay $5,000 for a toilet seat.  Most of the people on capital hill have never had to worry about healthcare and have no idea how it works.  They are interested in your vote; and if universal healthcare sounds good to you, they will be happy to do it regardless of right or wrong.  Good healthcare is not a right… it’s a privilege that should be worked for and cherished, not handed out.

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Healthcare industry, one of the largest industries, is now catching up with the other leading industries. Employment in the healthcare industry is projected to increase in the fields of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech language pathology.

Available Job Openings

Numerous job opportunities are available at long term acute care centers, hospitals, rehab centers, nursing clinics and other facilities in the United States to grow your careers as therapists, therapy assistants or therapy assistant aides. Traveling job opportunities are available for therapy professionals, who are interested in traveling as part of their job. You can also opt for permanent, temporary, full time, part time, long term and short term job assignments.

Offers Value-added Therapy Service

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Healthcare staffing agencies in the United States offer high quality consulting and staffing services for domestic as well as internationally trained professionals and candidates in the fields of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech language pathology. These firms specialize in developing healthcare staffing solutions for clients at the most competitive and cost-effective rates.

In the United States healthcare industry, providers of healthcare consulting and staffing services offer an extensive range of specialized consulting services including development of strategic direction, situation analyses, candidate sourcing, candidate interviewing, healthcare management, return on investment analyses, and workflow adaptations. The recruiting agencies recruit candidates from various parts of the world for permanent and temporary jobs, short term and long term jobs, full time and short time jobs in the United States.

These service providers include a team of experienced search consultants, professional recruiters and support personnel who recruit energetic and hardworking employees with the right skill to fill the vacant job positions in the healthcare field. Healthcare professionals are assigned to community mental health centers, clinics, long term acute care centers, psychiatric and rehabilitation units, government institutions, nursing homes and more.

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Nua Healthcare, which has seven specialist residential facilities in Laois and Kildare, has become the first internationally accredited Autism service provider in the Republic of Ireland. The UK-based National Autistic Society (NAS) awarded the accreditation in recognition of the high quality of residential care provided by the organisation, and said that the services were unique amongst more than 300 organisations which have been assessed worldwide.

“Nua Healthcare have achieved accredited status within twelve months of registering onto the programme,” the NAS said in a statement. “This is an exceptional achievement and is rarely within this timeframe. The robustness of the organisation is recognised by their proactive measures to seek external recognition of their achievements and in doing so become accredited by an internationally recognised organisation.”

Nua Healthcare has pioneered a fresh approach to helping those with high functional Autism and Asperger Syndrome. Traditional treatments had forced individuals to fit into predefined care structures, but Nua Healthcare designs a service to meet the need of each person referred to it.

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