Improving Total Joint Replacement with Continuous Quality Improvement Methods and Tools

Abstract

Faced with increasing pressure to reduce costs, hospitals must find new ways to eliminate waste while simultaneously maintaining the highest quality of care. For any institution, these can types of changes can be complex and burdensome. This article outlines several methods that have been successful in reducing costs while maintaining high quality and highlights feasible methodologies that can help health care providers implement new quality improvement protocols.

Keywords: BPCI; Clinical pathways; Lean six sigma; Quality improvement; Total hip arthroplasty; Total joint arthroplasty; Total knee arthroplasty.