en Health Protection مقاله اصيل پژوهشي Orginal Article <strong>Background</strong>: Increasing hospital capacity to cover the service demands is an important priority during an epidemic or a pandemic. The aim of this study was to increase hospital capacity using the Six Sigma method to improve the patient discharge process.<br> <strong>Methods</strong>: This was a quantitative study. The Pre- and post-intervention study was conducted in a big hospital designated for COVID-19 patients. The patient discharge process was evaluated and improved based on seven sub-processes and following the Six Sigma model, including defining the problem, measuring time in each of the discharge stations, analysis times and process, improvement process, and control.<br> <strong>Results</strong>: Implementation of the electronic patient discharge led to a 51.9% decrease in discharge time from 7.3  h during the pre-intervention period to 3.8 h post-intervention (P< 0.0001). According to the Sigma level, the yield and defects per million opportunities of the discharge process also improved to 55%.<br> <strong>Conclusion</strong>: Increasing hospital capacity by improving the discharge time is a quick action to cover the demand created during pandemics. Also, about 32 beds can be obtained by applying the Six Sigma model to improve the discharge process in a short time and at a very low cost.<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span> COVID-19, Six sigma, Patient discharge, Hospital 305 312 http://jrh.gmu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1802-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mohaddeseh Sabethosseini Dokht sabetHM1@mums.ac.ir +98 100319475328460021089 No Department of Health Economics and Management Science, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Mehdi Yousefi yousefimh@mums.ac.ir +98 100319475328460021090 Yes Department of Health Economics and Management Science, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Hamid Heidarian Miri heidarianhh@mums.ac.ir +98 100319475328460021091 No Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Somayeh Fazaeli fazaelis@mums.ac.ir +98 100319475328460021092 No Department of Medical Records and Health Information Technology, School of Paramedical Sciences, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Hossein Ebrahimipour ebrahimipourH@mums.ac.ir +98 100319475328460021093 No Department of Health Economics and Management Science, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.