Real World Health Care Blog

Tag Archives: costs

By Linda Barlow  |  Apr 25, 2013

National Patient Safety Program Cuts Bloodstream Infections to Save Lives and Money

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Central-line catheters are lifesavers. They’re used in hospitals to deliver therapy where needed and when needed for patients with a wide range of conditions.  Unfortunately, central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) result in thousands of deaths each year and billions of dollars in added costs to the U.S. health care system, according to the CDC.

But there’s one collaborative program that has cut CLABSIs in intensive care units by 40 percent, preventing more than 2,000 infections, saving more than 500 lives and avoiding more than $34 million in health care costs. The program, funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), used the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) to achieve these landmark results.

CLABSIs occur when germs enter the bloodstream through the central line (also known as a central venous catheter), which is placed in a large vein in a patient’s neck, chest or groin to give medication or fluids or to collect blood for medical tests. Such lines are commonly used in intensive care units and can remain in place for weeks or months.

Thanks in part to CUSP, progress is being made to protect people from these infections. In fact, nearly 60 percent fewer bloodstream infections occurred in hospital ICU patients with central lines in 2009 than in 2001. This decrease in infections saved up to 27,000 lives and $1.1 billion in excess medical costs. More recently, CLABSIs dropped 41 percent from 2008 to 2011, up from a 32 percent reduction in 2010.

CUSP Programs, like the one used in the AHRQ project, are being used by a number of state health departments to help prevent CLABSIs. CUSP combines clinical best practices with an understanding of the science of safety, improved safety culture and an increased focus on teamwork. It helps clinicians understand how to identify safety problems and gives them the tools to tackle those problems.

“In the CLABSI project, we learned that the principles of CUSP worked to make care safer, and that clinical teams could sustain those improvements over time,” said Jeff Brady, MD, MPH, Associate Director, Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. “The CUSP toolkit, which is a free resource on AHRQ’s web site, is designed to help clinical teams improve any safety problem, not just CLABSIs or infections.”

Indeed, Dr. Brady notes that new projects are already underway to apply CUSP principles to other safety problems like perinatal care and other settings of care, like ambulatory surgery. In addition, AHRQ is developing a CUSP toolkit module to address patient and family engagement – a resource slated for introduction in the late spring.

The bottom line: CLABSIs are preventable and we have the replicable tools we need to protect more patients.

How are health care providers in your area preventing CLABSIs? Are there steps patients can take? If so, what are they?

By Linda Barlow  |  Mar 19, 2013

Will Consolidation Change Health Care for the Better?

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The Cleveland Clinic believes it will, especially when it produces better patient outcomes and improves care across a spectrum of services.

As part of the recent wave of hospital mergers and acquisitions designed to improve quality and lower costs, Cleveland Clinic recently entered a long-term strategic alliance with Community Health Systems (CHS), a for-profit provider that operates 135 hospitals nationwide. While the two organizations will remain independent, they will “both [remain] committed to discovering novel strategies to improve care, reduce costs, enhance access to health care services and develop new approaches to care delivery.”

In discussing the alliance, CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic, Delos M. Cosgrove, MD, notes that thriving in today’s health care environment will require new ways of doing things. He calls medicine a “team sport.”

We couldn’t agree more. All effective strategies that successfully remove obstacles to quality, affordable care should be on the table in today’s health care environment. The Cleveland Clinic’s consolidation with CHS will lower expenses and improve the quality of care by:

  • Improving patient outcomes and reducing costs by creating a framework that enables physicians to share best practices while capturing, reporting and comparing data.
  • Enhancing quality and data infrastructure by assessing CHS-affiliated hospitals and applying the expertise of the Cleveland Clinic’s Heart and Vascular Institute to related programs.
  • Sharing best practices and creating synergies that encompass telemedicine initiatives, second opinion services for physicians and patients, complex care coordination and other areas in care and cost containment.

We look forward to watching the alliance between Cleveland Clinic and Community Health Systems as they continue to reframe health care.

Have you seen examples of successful collaborations that are improving access to care and/or reducing health care costs? Share them with us.

By Linda Barlow  |  Mar 12, 2013

Three Pillars of Health Care Success: Cost Savings, Prevention/Patient-Centered Care, and Access to Care

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Welcome to www.RealWorldHealthCare.org, a blog dedicated to showing what’s working to  improve health care in the U.S.

Why are we talking about improving access to good medical care? Rising costs could bankrupt us, and most people need to do a better job of preventing illness. But digging deeper, you may be surprised to learn that almost 10 percent of the U.S. population (that’s 29 million Americans) can’t afford the health insurance copayments, coinsurances and deductibles required to cover out-of-pocket costs for necessary treatments of certain chronic and life-altering medical conditions. The situation is so dire that about 60 percent of the personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. are due to medical expenses.

As we see every day in the news, patients are facing more obstacles in accessing affordable, quality care. As across-the-board cuts to health care programs are now taking effect with implementation of the sequester – along with projected layoffs to health providers across fields – available funds to cover the rising cost of care will be strained even further. Staying abreast of the latest proven solutions to the increasingly complex challenges of our health care system is more important than ever, for patients and providers alike.

We want our blog to be the go-to source for demonstrating what’s working in our health care system by focusing on three important pillars of health care success:  Cost Savings, Prevention/Patient-Centered Care, and Access to Care.

Cost Savings: No patient – adult or child – should go without health care because he or she cannot afford it. The first step to finding solutions to the increasing cost of care is enabling health care systems and health care professionals to share their practical knowledge with one another as well as the patients who often have to choose between paying their medical bills and putting food on the table. From paying for prescription drug copayments and deductibles to affording health insurance premiums, our Cost Savings posts will explore proven strategies to help patients and families reduce the financial strain associated with the rising price of care.

Prevention/Patient-Centered Care: What’s the first thing you think of when given the words “health care?” Most people think “trip to the doctor,” or “medication.” Our attention has to shift more aggressively to find ways to help people stay healthy. Seeing a dietitian could be vital for millions of Americans hoping to live healthier and longer. Annual lab work can find vitamin deficiencies. Sometimes very simple things, like removing carpeting from the home, can contribute to better cardiovascular health, resulting in increased life expectancy. It takes a village to care for a patient. Partnerships among practitioners, payers, patients and their families are crucial for ensuring that health care decisions are made in a way that respects patients’ needs and that patients have the knowledge and support they need to make reasoned decisions and participate in their own care. In our Prevention/Patient-Centered Care blog posts, we’ll focus on the many strategies available for staying healthy and recognize ways that patients are taking an active role in decision-making about treatment options.

Access to Care: We are so fortunate to live in a world where scientists are developing novel, breakthrough therapies. But those therapies can’t result in positive health outcomes if the patients who so desperately need them can’t access them. The evidence is clear: Proper medication compliance and adherence – consistently the right medication, at the right dosage, for the right patient – is essential to mitigating chronic disease. Continued and properly managed care and staying on treatment will be the focus of our Access to Care blog posts.

We’ll be sharing real-life examples of positive health outcomes in this space, and we encourage you to join in the dialogue. How would you tackle the problem of unaffordable health care? How can business and philanthropy work together to reduce the financial burden on patients? Have you or someone you know received help paying for needed therapies? Let us know in the comments section.

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