In a collaborative effort between CEOs and senior executives
from 11 leading hospitals and health systems across the country, a
comprehensive checklist to promote high-value healthcare at reduced costs has
recently been developed.
The CEO Checklist for High-Value Health Care, which was
released Tuesday, includes 10 strategies proven effective and essential to
improve healthcare quality, reducing waste and lowering costs. The checklist
emerges from a discussion paper from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) on excess
costs in the U.S. healthcare system.
The authors of the checklist represent CEOs and senior executives
from the following institutions: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center,
Cleveland Clinic, Denver Health, Geisinger Health System, Hospital Corporation
of America, Intermountain Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Partners HealthCare,
ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, Veterans Health Administration and
Virginia Mason Health System.
“I think we have a crisis in healthcare right now and we
have an opportunity to make a difference. The checklist was an effort to
identify the best practices, have better outcomes and make it available to the
executives at the highest level,” said Uma Kotagal, senior vice president of
quality, safety and transformation at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical
Center. Kotagal has also worked extensively with the CEO Checklist. “The
checklist can be part of the conversation with an executive team, and it would
be a simple way to get started since it can sometimes be overwhelming to say
‘let’s make healthcare better.’ The checklist also gives examples of how this
can be done.”
The strategies outlined in the checklist can help save lives
and money, said Kotagal. The list describes a comprehensive approach to
promoting high-value healthcare, and can serve as a blueprint for other
hospital executives when considering their own efforts to improve the value of
care delivered. Checklist items include:
• Senior leadership that is committed, visible and
determined;
• Institutional culture of continuous improvement and
real-time learning;
• Comprehensive IT systems for integrated, streamlined and
safe care;
• Evidence-based care to ensure the best care is delivered
every time;
• Optimized resource utilization to reduce waste;
• Integrated care delivered in the setting most appropriate
for the patient’s needs;
• Patient-clinician collaboration on care plans;
• Targeted resources for the sickest patients;
• Safeguards to reduce injury and infection; and
• Internal transparency on performance, outcomes and cost.
“Everyone is aware that medical costs are rising and with
the baby boomer age getting older, people are wondering how we are going to
afford care,” said Robert Wyllie, chief medical operating officer at Cleveland
Clinic. “We could do things more efficiently and that led us to think about how
we can be more efficient and improve care. Everyone doing it the same way
allows us to spotlight if there are problems and how we can fix them.”
To demonstrate the potential of each of the 10 checklist
items, the list includes supporting case material describing the experiences of
authoring institutions already working to implement these strategies. For
example, at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center smoothing patient
flow through the ICU has avoided $100 million in capital costs and reduced
delays due to bed availability. Another example is at Cleveland Clinic, where
internal transparency on quality spurred a 40 percent reduction in central
line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSIs) in the ICU, with $30,000
saved per avoided infection.
“I think there is a sense of urgency and accountability with
all of these issues. The checklist makes it easier for healthcare executives to
get started,” said Kotagal. “I think most organizations are already thinking
about it. Executives can crosscheck with this list and it helps them identify
where they are working well and where they could work better.”
Source: healthcarefinancenews
Source: healthcarefinancenews
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