The healthcare industry continues to rank among the fastest-growing industries in the United States, but with this growth has come challenges in how to best manage costs and processes while also improving patient care.
Some organizations have turned to Lean process improvement. In one recent case, the methodology led to lower mortality and readmission rates at a Nebraska hospital.
Bryan Medical Center in Lincoln used a platform from Denver-based HealthAware, called CareGap, which tracks progress of the hospital’s congestive heart failure (CHF) patients.
The program uses deep analytics to track mortality rates, in this case among CHF patients, and provides real-time information to medical professionals. Bryan Medical Center implemented the CareGap system in 2015 and in its first full year of use, the hospital reported strong improvement in two areas.
Lean Improvements
First, the 30-day mortality rated for CHF patients dropped to 12.9%, down from 15.5% in 2015. Second, the readmission rates among CHF patients dropped to 14% in 2016, down from 16% the year before.
“Partnering with HealthAware and it’s CareGap product has provided a platform to implement targeted, customizable interventions,” Darcy Blayney, a process improvement specialist in cardiovascular services at Bryan Medical Center, said in a news release. “The access to real-time [data] allows for immediate feedback on the effectiveness of the procedural and operational interventions.
“Undoubtedly, this functionality has led to improved patient outcomes both in readmissions and mortality prevention.”
How CareGap Works
CareGap creates a workflow and patient engagement system for medical professionals, providing them real-time information on patients. The overall goal of the system is to help clinicians work with patients to improve their health and avoid readmission, which both helps improve patients’ health and results in significant cost savings for hospitals.
The system also leads to better communication between a hospital and a discharge facility, allowing for patients to transfer to outside facilities with the least amount of complications and with an efficient transfer of information.
All of this helps hospitals work well with federal government policies that mandate a more efficient, economical healthcare system that provides the highest quality healthcare at the best price.
The government’s Quality Improvement Organization, administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, works with hospitals that received Medicare payments for patient care (which is basically all of them).
The QIO program focuses on quality patient care and ensuring that Medicare funds only pay for services that are reasonable and necessary. The program is led by a group of medical professionals tasked by the government to help medical facilities across the country become more efficient while providing top-quality care.
