Today, health system executives are increasingly challenged to control expenses while also growing revenue in a highly competitive market. In this dynamic environment, how can health systems thrive as businesses while also staying true to their organization’s overall mission of advancing the health of patients and communities?
In working with many health systems, we see that those best positioned for growth are focused on programs and investments that both, advance their healthcare mission and set them up for long-term success. They aren’t just looking for medical technologies and support services. They are looking for solutions that help them address their operational, clinical and business challenges so they can deliver the right care in the best way while improving the effectiveness and performance of their operations.
Serving more patients, better, in and out of the hospital.
Today, a strategy for many health system leaders includes creating better patient experiences across the care continuum -- both in and out of a hospital setting – by utilizing data and resources where they can drive better care and deliver greater efficiencies
Health system leaders know, for example, that heart failure is the leading cause for hospital admissions, and a quarter of those patients are re-admitted for a variety of reasons, driving up costs. Identifying those at highest risk for heart failure events is a critical first step in delivering care. Those at risk can be identified by mining and filtering data from implantable cardiac devices as well as patient data stored in electronic medical records. Once high-risk patients are pinpointed, outreach efforts can be targeted to them and their providers to ensure a timely referral into the system’s specialized care team.
Optimizing the management of heart failure patients is a priority for cardiovascular programs, but the best care for these seriously ill patients is not only high-tech, it’s high-touch. Today, cloud-based technology can be used to deliver customized and automated educational information to advanced heart failure patients implanted with ventricular assist devices (VADs). The technology, designed to support patients before and after surgery, outside of the hospital setting, helps them get accustomed to living with their new life-saving therapy. And, it has the potential to significantly increase the efficiency of VAD clinic coordinators, since routine and repetitive education and support is removed from their workload.
Similarly, data have shown the benefits of screening patients for malnutrition risk – a hidden condition that can impact 1 in 2 hospitalized adults – and implementing nutrition interventions for those found to be at risk.
As part of a multi-year partnership with a leading Illinois-based health care system, Abbott studied the impact of optimizing nutrition care on patients’ health and healthcare resource utilization across different settings of care. One study found that implementing a nutrition care program in the hospital was associated with a 27% reduction in 30-day readmission rates and an almost two-day reduction in length of stay for malnourished and at-risk patients, resulting in $4.8 million in savings (or $3,800 per patient savings).
A similar study looked at patients receiving home healthcare. When a comprehensive nutrition quality improvement plan was implemented that included a 30-day supply of nutrition drinks for patients at nutritional risk, there was an 18% reduction in hospitalizations over 90 days and a 14.7% reduction in healthcare costs that was associated with decreased healthcare use. This resulted in an estimated $1,500 savings per patient.
Lab insights fuel the engine for ideas that add value
Uncovering organizational solutions doesn’t require huge investment in capital or people. Better workflows and relief from complex operational problems are often hiding in an organization’s current data stream – from lab diagnostics platforms to medical records and smaller applications in between.
By applying algorithms to data, insights could be obtained that reveal new relationships between patients and chronic conditions, and may highlight the need for proactive, preventive care. An analysis of core lab data, for example, could reveal an opportunity to link blood glucose testing results to a historic database of local people living with diabetes. This type of approach could result in a potential community outreach effort to touch a previously underserved population.
In a recent pilot study, Abbott helped a hospital use laboratory and clinical data to flag previously unidentified comorbidities in almost 14% of patient cases that the hospital randomly selected for review across five key disease states. This could lead to potential cost savings by avoiding inappropriate testing and generating early and timely diagnoses, with subsequent impact on patient length-of-stay and cost.
These new uses for existing data have the potential to turn the lab from a simple cost center to an engine of new ideas on how to improve care and generate better outcomes.
As health system leaders take stock of their organizations to address some of their biggest priorities and competitive challenges, they are uncovering a trove of new ideas by taking a closer look at existing data and care processes. While data can take you a long way, gathering insights and standardizing treatments can deliver real value to health systems.