Improving Patient Experience Through Technology and Teamwork
Date Posted: Thursday, September 24, 2026
Nate Farrington, Supervisor of the UMass Memorial Diabetes & Endocrinology care teams, has completed a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt project, developing a new process designed to improve the patient experience when providers are running behind schedule.
His project focused on how staff can better communicate with patients when appointments are running late. Nate developed and implemented a process using Epic, the electronic health record system used to manage patient care and clinical workflows, that gives staff greater visibility into provider delays and allows them to proactively update patients. The new process has been incorporated into clinic workflows to support continued communication and improvement.
The Black Belt project builds on Nate’s previous Lean Six Sigma work. In 2024, he completed a successful Green Belt project focused on the prescription in-basket queue in the diabetes & endocrinology care clinics. He developed an Epic productivity tool called the “Rainbow Report,” which helped reduce prescription queue wait times by 83%. It received positive feedback from UMass Memorial Health leadership and was shared with supervisors in other departments.
His latest project shifts the focus directly to patient experience while continuing the same approach of using technology, teamwork and process improvement.
Both projects reflect Nate's initiative to improve the system for patients, as well as the collaborative work of the care teams, whose willingness to identify problems, test solutions and carry improvements forward helps create a more efficient and patient-centered experience.
Nate Farrington, Supervisor of the UMass Memorial Diabetes & Endocrinology care teams, has completed a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt project, developing a new process designed to improve the patient experience when providers are running behind schedule.
His project focused on how staff can better communicate with patients when appointments are running late. Nate developed and implemented a process using Epic, the electronic health record system used to manage patient care and clinical workflows, that gives staff greater visibility into provider delays and allows them to proactively update patients. The new process has been incorporated into clinic workflows to support continued communication and improvement.
The Black Belt project builds on Nate’s previous Lean Six Sigma work. In 2024, he completed a successful Green Belt project focused on the prescription in-basket queue in the Diabetes & Endocrinology care clinics. He developed an Epic productivity tool called the “Rainbow Report,” which helped reduce prescription queue wait times by 83%. It received positive feedback from UMass Memorial Health leadership and was shared with supervisors in other departments.
His latest project shifts the focus directly to patient experience while continuing the same approach of using technology, teamwork and process improvement.
Both projects reflect Nate's initiative to improve the system for patients, as well as the collaborative work of the care teams, whose willingness to identify problems, test solutions and carry improvements forward helps create a more efficient and patient-centered experience.
To learn more about how these tools work in the Diabetes & Endocrinology Clinic, or how similar improvements could be implemented in other departments, email nathen.farrington@umassmemorial.org.