Alexian Brothers Health System saves more than $1 million and improves safety

Alexian Brothers Health System is a perfect example of a system that has focused on improving quality and has saved tremendous costs in the process.

The health system has saved more than $1 million and has improved the quality of care system-wide through an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) developed in conjunction with the Premier healthcare alliance. An antimicrobial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganismssuch as bacteria. Unintended consequences of antimicrobial use include the emergence of resistance to bacteria.

In early 2010 Alexian Brothers Health System decided to develop an ASP as the result of a Premier pharmacy assessment that found a high use of antimicrobials. Two of the system’s acute care hospitals and its behavioral health facility are included in the program, as well as Premier’s pharmacy consulting team to expedite development and implementation.

Reductions in antimicrobial expenditures have led Alexian Brothers Health System to save $1,073,206 to date, while increasing patient safety.

The ASP’s primary goal is to optimize clinical outcomes so that unintended consequences of antimicrobial use are minimized, such as toxicity, selection of pathogenic organisms and emergence of resistance. The program is also concerned with efficiently using resources without adversely impacting the quality of patient care.

Diana Woytko, vice president of patient safety and quality at Alexian Brothers Health System, explains that her system has had excellent buy-in from medical staff which is essential to achieve this kind of success.

Alexian Brothers Health System uses Premier’s QualityAdvisor™ and SafetySurveillor^® tools to track and compare clinical outcomes data. QualityAdvisor data found that one hospital was overusing expensive agents, such as daptomycin, compared to the amount ordinarily used by top hospital performers. The medical-surgical hospitals use real-time data provided by SafetySurveillor to flag targeted antibiotics or conditions for timely intervention.

With the financial impact of healthcare reform and reimbursement reductions, it is imperative that all hospitals work on improving quality and reducing costs. Alexian Brothers provides an example others can follow as the healthcare industry continues along the journey of improving care and becoming more efficient. The transformation of healthcare will come from these kinds of changes. They are important and very effective.

Ed Howe blogs regularly at Action for Better Healthcare.