Kaizen Quality Initiative To Improve Patient Satisfaction And Throughput In An Academic Cancer Center

78 Background: Lean management principles have long been employed in manufacturing to improve operational efficiency but have only recently been adopted into healthcare settings. To address prolonged wait times and inadequate performance on patient satisfaction surveys, our cancer center utilized a Kaizen event as part of a quality improvement initiative.We utilized methods of Kaizen philosophy to evaluate all processes related to the patient experience in the outpatient facilities of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center of the University of Rochester. The Kaizen initiative was conducted by a multidisciplinary group and consisted of an intensive 5-day induction period to identify problems within the system of care followed by regular quality improvement meetings. The group developed immediate solutions to some problems and identified priorities for the longer term. Changes in patient throughput times (time from clinic check-in to check-out) and patient satisfaction (utilizing Press-Ganey surveys) were tracked before and after initiating Kaizen and this report evaluates results over the first 12-month period.Our Kaizen initiative involved a group of 17 faculty and staff who assembled during the induction period and met bi-monthly over the 12-month period from May 2011 to June 2012. Prior to the Kaizen intervention, mean throughput time for a 30-minute clinic visit was 80.34 minutes (n = 259; median 76; range 18 to 261) and mean overall patient satisfaction score for the quarter preceding the Kaizen was 89.3 (43(rd) percentile AHA Region 2). Over the 12 months following the Kaizen, mean throughput time reduced to 57.85 minutes (n = 249; median 53; range 11 to 205) and patient satisfaction scores improved to 91.9 (p<0.05; 63(rd)percentile).Utilizing continuous process evaluation and Kaizen methodology, we reduced patient throughput times by 28% and improved patient satisfaction percentile rank by 20%. Ongoing efforts focus on utilizing continuous quality improvement to improve patient and family-centered cancer care. Kaizen is an effective, resource-neutral method for improving operational efficiency and patient-centered outcomes in an academic oncology practice.