Thousands of lives potentially saved and hospital costs reduced are the predicted outcomes if more hospitals adopt certain quality measures on a wider scale, according to an analysis by Premier Inc. healthcare alliance, headquartered in San Diego, which is owned by more than 200 of the nation's leading not-for-profit hospitals and healthcare systems.
The analysis concluded that if all pneumonia, heart bypass, heart attack (acute myocardial infarction), and hip and knee replacement patients nationally had received most or all (76 to 100 percent) of a set of widely accepted care processes in 2004, it could have resulted in nearly 5,700 fewer deaths; 8,100 fewer complications; 10,000 fewer readmissions; and 750,000 fewer days in the hospital. In addition, hospital costs could have been as much as $1.35 billion lower.
Premier’s analysis is based on data from the organization’s Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration (HQID) pay-for-performance demonstration project with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Through that project, Premier collects a set of 33 quality indicators from more than 250 hospitals across the country. Using clinical quality measure data that has been audited and validated by CMS, Premier undertook additional analysis using the detailed cost and clinical data available in Premier's PerspectiveT database, the most comprehensive clinical, financial and operational comparative database in the nation.
For more information, contact Hunter Kome, Premier Inc. , 704.733.5698, [email protected], or visit www.premierinc.com/p4p/press.