At the Becker’s Hospital Review 5th Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 16, Steven K. Schmitt, MD, a staff physician in the department of infectious diseases at the Cleveland Clinic, discussed how infectious disease specialists can help hospitals and health systems achieve the triple aim. He identified the following four key areas where infectious disease experts can help improve quality of care and contain costs.
1. Infection prevention. Hospital-acquired infections can increase the cost of an episode of care by anywhere from several hundred dollars to more than $20,000, depending on the specific type of infection, according to Dr. Schmitt. “Think about your rates and do the math,” he said. “You get to millions per institution pretty quickly.”
2. Antimicrobial stewardship. Although hospitals might have microbiologists and pharmacists helping them with antimicrobial stewardship, Dr. Schmitt said infectious disease specialists’ “clinical boots on the ground” differentiate them and make them the ideal leaders in this realm. “We’re out there taking care of these patients and doing epidemiology at the same time,” he said.
3. Management of complex drug-resistant infections. Infectious disease specialists have extensive training in infections, something that makes them the ideal choice to deal with this area of concern as opposed to other specialists, Dr. Schmitt said.
4. Population health management. “We are big proponents of population health management, and we’re involved in response management,” Dr. Schmitt said. Internally, he said infectious disease specialists can contribute to policy developments. Externally, they can provide connections to local and state health departments to stay abreast of situations such as outbreaks.
“We have a very collaborative skill set,” he said. “We help you save lives and reputation and improve patient experience.”
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