URAC has moved forward in its adoption of Lean Six Sigma with the completion of its first Kaizen Event! A Kaizen Event is a focused improvement project that can be accomplished in a short, dedicated timeframe. It offers the opportunity for rapid improvement with a focus on identifying and eliminating waste in a process.
For this first event, a team was assembled and convened to investigate and recommend the best approach to a new Call Center program. The group reviewed URAC’s current state, with selected staff that provided their individual perspectives on process steps, known gaps, and “work-around” of the process. All discussion was captured and organized, and process steps were then re-visited for refinement.
The team debated various changes before coming to consensus on a recommended process and the associated action plan. Highlights of the recommendation included: (1) eliminate Part 1 of the application and collect relevant information either in Salesforce for preparation of the sale; (2) introduce a self-assessment for organization’s to better manage their own preparedness; (3) eliminate “Request for Additional Information Rounds”, conducting only one Desktop Review and validating any updates or missing items during the Validation Virtual Review.
Recommendations were presented to the Executive Team and were approved without modification. A second Kaizen Event is scheduled for August 9-10 to put the plan into action. The resulting process, along with changes made to information systems, policies and procedures, etc. will be reviewed with all staff upon completion.
