Jewish Hospital Streamlines Processes

Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s Healthcare (JHSMH) is the largest health system in Louisville, Kentucky, with over 71 facilities and almost 100,000 emergency room visits annually. Jewish Hospital’s Clinical Laboratory wanted to improve the overall operational efficiency of its central processing area to better meet the increasing patient demand.

The lab was challenged with significant capacity issues: a high volume of specimens with significant peaks in demand, a bottleneck around a partially automated line, and no standard work procedures. The capacity issues created job satisfaction issues within the lab and created physician dissatisfaction issues beyond the lab doors.

Project: TechSolve was hired to identify capacity and turnaround time improvement opportunities. TechSolve quickly identified criticall process issues and non-value-added opportunities to address specific receiving and phlebotomy problems.

Working collaboratively with the Jewish Hospital team, gaps in standard work procedures were identified. Staging and batching issues were found to cause a 19-minute gap from specimen arrival to placement in the automated line, creating significant bottlenecks. The department was also facing a retiring workforce that would be hard to replace.

TechSolve reallocated resources to create a "fast/slow" lane — first-in, first-out (FIFO) — system and develop an improved parallel processing system. By reducing the use of racks and staging through a single-piece flow, the slow lane process was maximized. The work was completed with the existing staff working the same amount of hours.

Additionally visual controls, improvements in data entry, and the preventative maintenance program were standardized. The lab team was trained on Lean continual improvement practices, empowering them to continue and further maximize the results long-term.

Results: The results exceeded all expectations. Capacity and turnaround time increased such that Jewish Hospital could/would do lab work for other neighboring healthcare facilities. Specifically, CPA turnaround time was reduced from 19 minutes to 1.5 minutes (a 94% reduction); job and customer satisfaction increased; and 16%+ more test results were verified by 7:30 a.m. to better meet physicians’ needs for morning rounds. Additionally, the total project return on investment was estimated at $112,000.

With a well-running lab in place, the hospital then felt comfortable making a more than $850,000 new investment in completing the automated line. This proactively positioned them for succes today and tomorrow.