Patient safety can help your bottom line
When it comes to patient safety, everyone says they want to do the right thing for patients. But that noble intention sometimes isn't enough when it comes time to look at the budget and decide which good intentions get funded this year.
Maybe your argument should be that your program can achieve two goals. More research is showing that, if you do it right, a patient safety effort actually can save money while it saves lives. Investing in patient safety initiatives saves lives and money, according to a new analysis published by researchers with Lumetra, a nonprofit health care consultancy in San Francisco. Medical errors, adverse drug events and hospital-acquired infections are among the most prevalent and preventable patient safety hazards, costing patient lives and loss of productivity and hospitals billions of dollars each year, says Allison Snow, MHA, vice president for healthcare process improvement with Lumetra.
The researchers compiled evidence and expert-based patient safety data that demonstrate how hospitals save money and lives by improving overall safety.1 The analysis draws on national case studies to highlight the dramatic costs of patient safety violations; the benefits of patient safety interventions; and the technological trends safety leaders are investing in to create an environment that fosters increased safety, she says.
"For health care providers, investing in patient safety initiatives is the right thing to do," Snow says. "It also just makes great business sense. Patient safety initiatives protect the bottom line, provide better patient care, improve patient satisfaction, increase employee productivity, foster improved systemic changes, and build goodwill."
Examples show cost savings
The Lumetra report lists these examples of how patient safety efforts can have a positive effect on the bottom line:
- Standing orders, clinical pathways, fast-track protocols, and comprehensive case management systems reduce the average length of stay, improve clinical outcomes, increase patient satisfaction, and produce annual savings that range from $15,000 to $187,000.
- A large, acute care hospital invested $3,674 to develop and implement a set of standing orders and clinical pathways for its 400 acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients each year. This process change has reduced the average length of stay, resulting in a financial benefit of $53,000 annually.
- Heavily publicizing a new fast-track protocol for patients with chest pain allowed an acute care hospital to admit additional patients while reducing average length of stay, increasing patient profits by nearly $135,000 annually and reducing the hospital's exposure to denials of payment for unnecessary admissions.
- Creating a set of clinical pathways allowed one hospital to ensure that its pneumonia patients receive antibiotics more quickly. This intervention resulted in a sizeable average length of stay reduction and staff efficiencies, saving the facility more than $30,000 annually.
- One urban medical center developed a comprehensive case management system for pneumonia patients, involving standing orders, physician reminders, and patient education resulting in $187,000 in annual cost savings as a result of an average length of stay reduction. (Editor's note: To see the full Lumetra report, go to www.lumetra.com/about-lumetra/index.aspx?id=3450.)
Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, CA, has seen significant cost savings from implementing evidence-based practice for heart failure patients, says Colleen Austel Nadeau, BSN, RN, senior cardiac specialist in heart failure at Sharp Grossmont. Beginning in July 2005, the hospital implemented a patient safety process that includes identifying heart failure patients with stickers on the patient chart to remind staff about their special needs. The hospital also began adhering to a number of best practice guidelines for cardiac care, including early use of certain drugs and a specific protocol for cardiac discharge.
The results of the program are encouraging, she reports. Readmissions and length of stay are both down significantly.
"Our preliminary numbers show that by reducing readmissions, we save about $2,000 per case," Nadeau explains. "We've had a 3% reduction in readmissions, so overall the cost savings on readmissions amounted to about $47,000 over a year, which is a pretty nice cost savings."
Similar cost savings come from reducing the length of stay, she says. The cost per day is about $462, so the reduction in length of stay from the cardiac initiatives saves about $169,000 per year.
Joyce McGinty, MS, RN, cardiac program manager at the hospital, suggests that risk managers can use that kind of data to actively support efforts to implement patient safety programs.
"We're also finding that we can sustain these numbers," she says. "You implement these kinds of changes because you care about quality and patient safety, but the cost savings are undeniably a benefit as well. When you're looking at possible expenses, you have to look at these potential savings, too."
Reference
1. Sabogal F, Snow A, Sawyer L. The business case for patient safety. Calif Assoc Healthc Qual J 2008; 1:10-34.
Sources
For more information on cost savings from patient safety efforts, contact:
- Joyce McGinty, MS, RN, Cardiac Program Manager, Sharp Grossmont Hospital, La Mesa, CA. Telephone: (619) 740-4221. E-mail: joyce. [email protected].
- Colleen Austel Nadeau, BSN, RN, Senior Cardiac Specialist, Sharp Grossmont Hospital, La Mesa, CA. Telephone: (619) 740-4221. E-mail: colleen. [email protected]
- Allison Snow, MHA, Vice President, Healthcare Process Improvement, Lumetra, San Francisco. Telephone: (415) 677-2000. E-mail: [email protected].
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