Leveraging Six Sigma instruments to optimize cancer screening in an urban community hospital.

e13046Background: In 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services implemented a quality improvement initiative known as “Healthy People 2020” designed to improve outcomes across a broad array of illnesses by 2020. Within the category of cancer, the initiative’s goals include improving screening rates. As poor socioeconomic status has long been associated with lower screening and higher mortality rates, and given the low socioeconomic status of much of our patient population, our institution has implemented Six Sigma techniques designed to decrease variability in cancer screening measures, reduce healthcare disparities, and improve screening outcomes. Methods: Beginning in the 4th quarter of 2013, our hospital’s Ambulatory Care department implemented a bimonthly rapid cycle evaluation of physicians designed to analyze a variety of patient care metrics including breast and colorectal cancer screening rates within each physician’s respective patient panel. Data for each quarter was systematically d...