Will Six Sigma Save Us?

Charmian Love

June 11, 2010

Does GE hold the secrete to creating effective health care systems?  An article caught my attention in the FT today ‘GE Plans Tonic for Healthcare Inefficiency’ which  highlights a new strategic play the mega company – selling their ‘six sigma’ management techniques to the medical sector.

There is a lot of talk about all the new technology in the pipeline that is being designed to improve our overall well being and health – ranging from new kinds of cancer treatments to improved  imaging equipment to synthetic hip replacements.  It is heartening to see that GE has recognized that all the technology in the world will only get us so far – that what we need to truly disrupt the existing system are improved processes.

‘Healthcare around the world can;t be characterised as a well-oiled machine.  It suffers from cost, quality and variance problems’ said John Dineen, head of GE Healthcare.

Although there are only 160 people in the GE universe currently working on performance issues (bringing in about $60 million) – the plan is to double the size of the team every year for five years.  Ambitious targets.

This is  a move that must have  existing management consulting firms thinking about the services they are delivering to the healthcare sector, and how they will compete with the six sigma specialists…