CIGNA & Six Sigma

CIGNA and its Chairman Recognized for Company’s Service and Quality Excellence

Since beginning its quality journey in 2003, CIGNA has transformed from a company with little or no experience in Lean Six Sigma principles and practices, to one that has embraced Six Sigma training and gone on to earn national recognition for its commitment to excellence in service and quality. In 2006, a panel of judges of Lean Six Sigma experts from industry, academia and publishing recognized CIGNA's evolution when it named CIGNA Chairman and CEO Ed Hanway the Lean Six Sigma CEO of the Year.

In being named for the award, sponsored by World Conventions & Business Forums (WCBF), Hanway was cited for his strong personal commitment to quality and continuous improvement, and his dedication to Six Sigma as a vehicle for far-reaching, positive change. The WCBF also recognized:

• CIGNA's Lean Six Sigma integration as a norm across the enterprise, with Black, Green and Yellow belt engagement in all CIGNA business operations and functions.
• Introductory levels of Six Sigma training readily accessible to all employees around the globe through CIGNA Online Learning.
• Completion of hundreds of projects with a financial impact exceeding many millions of savings per year.
• Received national recognition for its service and quality from independent rating organizations such as J.D. Power and the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

A longtime supporter of Six Sigma and its business results, Hanway has also earned a Blue Belt certification for his knowledge of the program. "While Six Sigma certainly helps us achieve cost savings, it is much more than that," Hanway said. "As important as savings, is the impact that Six Sigma has on our products in the marketplace and the quality of the experience felt by our customers, hospitals, doctors and brokers as they deal with CIGNA. The challenge for us now is to continue to expand our use of Six Sigma and ensure that it is being applied to our top priorities."

Six Sigma – Proven Methodology. Proven Success.

The Six Sigma initiative at CIGNA has become a corporate-wide driving force for helping CIGNA achieve its business goals and mission to improve the health, well-being, and security of the people we serve. Its wide array of tools has proven effective in not only improving existing processes and designing better new processes and systems, but also in helping CIGNA tackle large, complex, cross-functional challenges, including those directly involving clients and suppliers.
During CIGNA's 2003-5 start-up period for Six Sigma, the focus was almost entirely on improving service and reducing operational costs (the key imperatives at that time). That work is now expanding. While those imperatives will always exist, CIGNA's drive toward consumerism is causing it to look even more closely at the individual's experience and to leverage the tools of Six Sigma to produce better new products, systems and processes to make that experience the best it can be, with levels of accuracy and timeliness never before seen in this industry.

There's a lot of Six Sigma momentum at CIGNA. We now have several hundred trained Black and Green Belts, as well as our own small cadre of Master Black Belts. Thousands of CIGNA employees have been through Yellow Belt training, awareness sessions, and/or have completed our on-line courses, now available to all. Most of our senior executives, including our CEO Ed Hanway, have completed Blue Belt training for champions. As a result, we have:

• Completed hundreds of process improvement projects
• Held numerous, successful "Kaizen" events in several departments, quickly finding and eliminating wastes in such areas as claims processing, doctor on-boarding, life and disability insurance, sales and implementation, etc.
• Successfully tackled large, complex cross-functional issues, including some directly involving major clients and/or suppliers
• Kicked off the use of Design for Six Sigma on selected key new development projects

Our progress has been remarkable, and has been recognized externally.  In addition to being a featured speaker at numerous national quality conferences, CIGNA also recently won two top awards from the Northeast Division of the American Society for Quality (ASQ).  And in 2006, our Ed Hanway, was recently named “Lean/Six Sigma CEO of the Year,” by the World Conference of Business Forums (WCBF).  During a recent national conference at which Ed was a keynote speaker, he said, “Blending the principles of Six Sigma with a true consumerist approach to health care—an approach in which individuals can make the right health choices for themselves and their families—is a powerful and promising way to improve health care in America.  And that’s fundamental to our strength and vitality as a global competitor.”