Data-driven physician dialogue leads to big savings for Savannah hospitals
The St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System is a private, faith-based, not-for-profit health system featuring two of Georgia's oldest hospitals: St. Joseph's Hospital (305 beds) and Candler Hospital (331 beds). Specialty services include cardiology, orthopedics, and oncology. The Cancer Care and Research Pavilion offers access to the latest technologies and cancer treatments including research, radiation oncology and outpatient infusion services. Since 1999, St. Joseph's/Candler has been listed as one of the nation's “Top 100 Integrated Health Systems” by Modern Healthcare magazine. They also received the national Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence. Both facilities have Joint Commission accreditatione.
Situation:
St. Joseph’s/Candler had orthopedic and neurosurgery programs that positively contributed to revenue with steady volume. However, the programs still presented challenges to the organization’s cost savings efforts, especially in the areas of implants and related ancillary products.
Solution:
To identify savings opportunities and accelerate results, St. Joseph’s/Candler participated in Premier’s Collaborative Breakthrough Series (BTS). BTS uses the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s model for improvement. Participants commit to collaborate with peers from other healthcare organizations to accelerate improvements and implement changes that will significantly improve operations and potentially eliminate millions of dollars of unnecessary expenses.
Result:
- In eight months, St. Joseph’s/Candler experienced savings of $400,000.
- In addition to global process improvement efforts, the team
successfully implemented specific savings projects, including:
- Reduced the cost of antibiotic bone cement by half, which captured savings of approximately $75,000
- Switched to FloSeal from a combination of thrombin and gel foams, resulting in savings of $100,000
- Standardized efforts on vascular grafts and reduced costs by $110 per graft
"“The benefit of the CBTS was our ability to exchange ideas and brainstorm
with our peers. ... It was really helpful to affirm our current best practices,
as well as find new ways to get around some of those obstacles that were
impeding our organization’s goal to contain implant costs across the board"
Brad Trower, Clinical Initiatives Director of Orthopedics
St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System