Lean Six Sigma Healthcare Certification Program

Earn a Certified Green or Black Belt

Online & Asynchronous

The Lean Six Sigma certification program provides attendees with the required skills and competencies to increase efficiency and decrease waste. Attendees will learn strategies to overcome barriers and implement best practices in the real-world environment. 

What Does This Program Include?

  • The program includes everything you need to become a certified Green Belt or Black Belt. We mentor you and you conduct a project in your organization and it is all online. 
  • The online certification program culminates in a certification exam.  
  • To become a certified Green Belt takes six months and completion of one project.  To become a certified Black Belt takes twelve months and completion of two  projects. 
  • Once you are certified by Jefferson, we do not require recertification. If you have been certified by another group and require recertification, we can recertify you. You will not need to recertify again after you have taken our program. 
  • Registration discounts are available to partner organizations and Jefferson employees. If you have taken Operational Excellence Boot Camp within the past two years, you qualify for additional discounts. 

Contact Mary Cooper, MD for more information. 

Why Lean Six Sigma?

Value-based reimbursement and consumer-driven markets serve as a catalyst for institutional and industry-wide change. Providers, especially healthcare delivery systems, are tasked with not only doing more with less, but doing things better as well. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to drive labor shortages, supply chain disruption, and other factors negatively impacting the healthcare industry.  Lean  Six Sigma addresses these issues by reducing non-value added costs and increasing quality through proven performance improvement methodologies. Lean Six Sigma  creates highly effective problem solvers with tactical and leadership skills to develop and implement solutions. 

Objectives

  • Identify  health care tools to transform healthcare operations
  • Design and implement the DMAIC model to drive performance improvement strategies at the system and process level
  • Leverage data analysis to prioritize  recommendations for healthcare performance improvement initiatives
  • Execute rapid improvements to ensure success and sustainability 
  • Develop a strategic, systematic approach for evaluating and addressing operational opportunities for improvement in your care setting
  • Integrate quality, safety, and transformation/ change management tools to promote efficiency
  • Identify approaches for strategic execution of high priority opportunities
  • Distinguish and leverage key elements of leadership 
  • Develop high-performing teams

Who Should Attend?

Clinical and operational leaders responsible for service delivery at their healthcare organizations: physicians, nurses, therapists, healthcare administrators, service line leaders, health IT specialists and analysts, integrated delivery system administrators and others. 

Enrollment & Registration

Enrollment will take place for Spring, Fall, and Winter cohorts. Register below the course that you plan to attend.  

About Certification Requirements

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Training Curriculum 

Title  Description  Estimated Time 
Interactive eLearning  Jefferson College of Population Health - Fundamentals of Six Sigma DMAIC
OPX 550
60 hours 
Virtual Study Hall Sessions  Live virtual sessions to augment eLearning content. 5 total sessions, 2 hours each (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) 10 hours 
Operational Excellence Boot Camp Two day OPX Boot Camp teaches the fundamentals of Lean Approaches to Improvement  16 hours 
Certification Exam  Approximately 100 questions  3 hours 
LSS Project  1 Project let by LSSGB candidate. Project includes coaching/mentorship by Jefferson Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or Master Black Belt with presentation to JCPH certification committee  6 months 

Fee: $ 7500

 Six Sigma Black Belt Certification 

Title  Description  Estimated Time 
Interactive eLearning  Jefferson College of Population Health - Fundamentals of Six Sigma DMAIC
OPX 551 
120  hours 
Virtual Study Halls  Live virtual sessions to augment eLearning content. 5 total sessions, 2 hours each (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) 10 hours 
Operational Excellence Boot Camp Two day OPX Boot Camp teaches the fundamentals of Lean Approaches to Improvement  16 hours 
Advanced Operational Excellence Academy  Advanced Operational Excellence Boot Camp  teaches more complex Lean Approaches to Improvement. 16 hours 
Certification Exam  Approximately 120 questions  4  hours 
LSS Project  2 Projects led by LSSGB candidate. Project includes coaching/mentorship by Jefferson Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with final presentation to the JCPH Certification Committee.
12-15 months 

Fee: $11,000

About Recertification Requirements

JCPH also offers recertification options for candidates who were previously certified through another program. 

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB) Recertification 

Interactive eLearning  Jefferson College of Population Health - Fundamentals of Six Sigma DMAIC 
OPX 550 
60 hours 
Virtual Study Halls  Virtual live sessions to augment eLearning content: 5 total sessions (2hours each): Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control  10 hours 
Operational Excellence Boot Camp  Two Day Fundamentals of Lean Approaches to Improvement teaches the fundamentals of Lean Approaches to Improvement   16 hours 
Online Certification Exam  100 questions  3 hours
Project Review  Submission and presentation of prior LSS project (A3) from certification in another program. JCPH Certification Committee reviews to identify focus areas to demonstrate competency for recertification.  3-6 months 

Fee: $ 4500

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSSBB) Recertification

Interactive eLearning  Jefferson College of Population Health - Advanced Fundamentals of Six Sigma 
OPX 550
Advanced Six Sigma DMAIC 
OPX 551 
80 hours
Virtual Study Halls  Live virtual sessions to augment eLearning content: 5 total sessions (2 hours each): Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control  10 hours
Operational Excellence Boot Camp  Two Day Boot Camp teaches the Fundamentals of Lean Approaches to Improvement   16 hours 
Advanced Operational Excellence Boot Camp  Two Day Advanced OPX Boot Camp teaches more complex Lean Approaches to Improvement   16 hours 
Online Certification Exam  120 questions  4 hours 
Project Review  Submission and presentation of two prior LSS projects (A3), reports  from certification in another program. Must demonstrate DOE or Regression or Hypothesis, or Process Simulation. JCPH Certification Committee reviews to identify focus areas to demonstrate competency for recertification.  3-6 months 

Fee: $6500

Competencies and Skill Sets Covered

Based on the National Center for Health Leadership (NCHL) Competency Model. 

  • Analytical Thinking 
  • Process Management 
  • Innovative Thinking 
  • Performance Measurement 
  • Project Management 
  • Change Leadership 
  • Self-Development
  • Organizational Awareness (Systems-Thinking) 

Course Directors

Shane Flickinger, MHA, FACHE, CLSSBB,  is Vice President of Operations of Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals (TJUH) and Associate Director of the Operational Excellence Program at JCPH, which he co-founded. He is responsible for leading and managing a portfolio of programs and services across all sites of service within the TJUH and across the entire continuum of care.  Shane was previously the Director of the Center for Operational Resource Efficiency (CORE), a command center leveraging people, actions and analytics to drive care coordination, quality and safety, and operational excellence.   Shane holds a certification as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. He is also a trained Baldrige Examiner through Pennsylvania’s performance excellence program and is credentialed as a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Michael Anderson, MSIS, CLSSMBB  is the Assistant Program Director of the Operational Excellence  program at JCPH. He is a cutting-edge visionary leader with more than 20 years of  expertise in strategic planning, market development, new service initiatives, financial analysis, and fiscal management within the healthcare industry. Michael is the director of operations at Jefferson Methodist Hospital. In this role, he is responsible to provide oversight and consultation for the execution of initiatives within quality/safety, patient satisfaction, and finance and to devise efficiency strategies and quality control improvement plans conducive to growth and profitability. Prior to his role at Jefferson, he was the Associate Director for Clinical Effectiveness & Quality Improvement at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Michael holds a certification in (CSSMBB) Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and (PM) Project Management.   

Questions regarding  this program can be directed to Mary Cooper, MD