Business Excellence via Six Sigma leads to quality award

Cigna Corp used Six Sigma methodologies in a healthcare intensive case management (ICM) programme in an attempt to reduce re-admission rates for problems such as substance abuse. Cigna staff identified potential causes for a gap between the perceived and actual performance for readmission and implemented a number of improvements. A full-year study was designed using 286 patients enrolled in the ICM program compared with 517 patients with similar problems in a control group. The results were very...