Broadlane, a healthcare group purchasing organization, has acquired Healthcare Performance Partners, a consulting group offering Lean Healthcare and Six Sigma consulting services, training and tools.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
HPP will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Dallas-based Broadlane, and the firm will continue to be led by its founder, Charles Hagood, who will be president of the standalone company; staff and operations will remain in its Nashville-based headquarters.
"Acquiring HPP is a significant step in increasing our product offering as clients look to improve clinical outcomes, reduce costs, improve satisfaction of both the patient and caregiver alike while implementing process improvements," said Tom Sherry, chief operating officer at Broadlane. "While Lean and Six Sigma have long been cornerstones of manufacturing, healthcare providers are only now beginning to more broadly implement these approaches to remove waste and cost from their systems while improving quality of care."
Lean is an operating philosophy developed in manufacturing environments that aims to reduce waste along "value streams" of activity. Applying Lean principles to processes increases throughput, often improves quality of care and improves safety by reducing errors.
Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects. These operating philosophies have proven successful at increasing productivity and quality in manufacturing settings and are now being applied to the service sector.
According to Sherry, HPP is one of the few industrial and process engineering companies to successfully apply its consulting success to the healthcare setting. He said many consulting engagements across the United States and Canada have led to significant, sustained improvement at acute care facilities of all sizes, and HPP is now beginning engagements in Europe.
"With HPP, we are able to provide Broadlane clients with even more tools and services needed to lower cost and improve the bottom line in new ways that complement our traditional methods," said Sherry. "For example, HPP has helped providers reduce or eliminate infection rates from common procedures such as central line insertion, which in turn has reduced costly readmissions. They have also improved throughput leading to less waiting by patients, as well as better utilization of capital equipment and facilities."
HPP's service offerings will include Lean and Six Sigma consulting services, training services, facilities and clinical design services, conferences and workshops.
"We are excited to begin our new partnership with Broadlane," said Hagood. "Lean and Six Sigma practices can help healthcare providers dramatically reduce costs while improving the consistency of results."