Comprehensive consulting approach drives $4.5M in cardiology savings
Fairview Southdale Hospital is a multi-specialty medical center. In 2009 for the second year in a row, HealthGrades rates it as the number one hospital in Minnesota for heart and stroke care. It is five-star rated in 2009 in 15 areas including critical care, pulmonary services, joint replacement, and total knee replacement. It is a nationally-certified stroke center, Commission on Cancer’s Outstanding Achievement Award recipient and the Twin Cities' first Level III Trauma Center. It is part of Fairview Health Services, a community-based healthcare system with seven hospitals, 48 primary care clinics, six urgent care clinics and a wide range of specialty service centers across Minnesota. www.fairview.org
Situation:
Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina, Minn., is one of the nation’s top cardiovascular hospitals. A strong partnership between physicians and hospital administration has enabled the organization to achieve leading clinical outcomes and strong financial performance. Not content to rest on its success, Fairview Southdale engaged Premier Consulting Solutions (PCS) to appraise its cardiology service line performance to improve clinical, financial and operational performance.
Solution:
Premier marshaled its comprehensive clinical and supply chain data and multidisciplinary consultants from both Premier Purchasing Partners and Healthcare Informatics to examine all elements of cost and quality. The engagement looked at not just supplies, but clinical processes, charges, revenue, labor, and physician satisfaction. Clinical quality performance and safety were measured using Premier’s ClinicalAdvisor® powered by the Perspective® database, the hospital industry’s largest and most comprehensive clinical comparative database. Those findings were consolidated with supply chain information contained in SupplyFocus®, one of the industry’s largest supply chain databases, and more specific pricing and utilization data contained in Premier’s CardiacFocus™, OrthopedicFocus™, and SpineFocus™ tools. Revenue also was scrutinized for coding and charging accuracy, as well as reimbursement and other revenue cycle management issues.
Result:
Linking data on expensive implants and other supply utilization with the billing and clinical outcomes data provided information hospitals need to engage physicians for improved performance. Premier consultants determined opportunities for maximizing operating margin and improving patient outcomes. A focused program made a significant impact on service line margins. Fairview staff and physicians agreed.
Premier’s innovative approach identified more than $4.5 million in performance-enhancing opportunities in cardiology. These included not only significant opportunities to improve the service line cost structure and patient throughput but also physician-specific implications for clinical practice improvement. Opportunities ranged from savings of as much as $2.5 million in length of stay and $1.4 million for device costs and utilization to approximately $10,000 each for charge validation and urinalysis cost and utilization.
"The supply chain data resulting from this assessment was integrated
immediately into our CV negotiations process which was already underway. The
timing was excellent because we got the information in January for Premier and
Fairview contracts expiring in April. It is extremely actionable information
from a supply chain perspective."
Chris Meyers Janda, .
Vice President, Supply Chain, .
Fairview Health Services
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