Concepts & Connections 10.2 discusses Charleston Area Medical Center’s use of Six Sigma practices. List three tangible benefits provided by the program. Explain why a commitment to quality control is important in the hospital industry. How can the use of a Six Sigma program help medical providers survive and thrive in the challenging industry climate?

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Concepts&Connections 10.2 CHARLESTON AREA MEDICAL CENTER'S SIX SIGMA PROGRAM Established in 1972, Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC) is West Virginia's largest health care provider in terms of beds, admissions, and revenues. In 2000, CAMC implemented a Six Sigma program to examine quality problems and standardize care processes. Performance improvement was important to CAMC's manage- ment for a variety of strategic reasons, including competitive positioning and cost control. The United States has been evolving toward a pay-for-performance structure, which rewards hospitals for providing quality care. CAMC has utilized its Six Sigma program to take advantage of these changes in the health care environment. For example, to improve its performance in acute myocardial infarc- tion (AMI), CAMC applied a Six Sigma DMAIC ERproductions Ltd/Blend Images LLC (define-measure-analyze-improve-control) approach. Nursing staff members were educated on AMI care processes, performance targets were posted in nursing units, and adherence to the eight Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) indi- cators of quality care for AMI patients was tracked. As a result of the program, CAMC improved its compliance with HQA- recommended treatment for AMI from 50 to 95 percent. Harvard researchers identified CAMC as one of the top-performing hospi- Since CAMC introduced Six Sigma, over 100 quality improve- ment projects have been initiated. A key to CAMC's success has been instilling a continuous improvement mindset into the organization's culture. Dale Wood, chief quality officer at CAMC, stated: "If you have people at the top who completely support and want these changes to occur, you can still fall flat on your face.... You need a group of networkers who can carry change across an organization." Due to CAMC's performance improve-