Thomson Reuters has launched an initiative to help U.S. hospitals reduce healthcare costs by $4 billion over three years while improving the quality of medical care.
The Save $4 Billion campaign will offer U.S. hospital CEOs an analysis that shows how their hospitals compare to industry norms and benchmarks in clinical quality, patient safety, financial performance and operational efficiency. Thomson Reuters will meet with hospital executives to discuss their results and where they should focus improvement efforts to have the greatest impact. There is no charge for these services.
"A recent Thomson Reuters report indicated that 50 percent of U.S. hospitals are now unprofitable," said Mike Boswood, president and CEO of the healthcare and science business of Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Thomson Reuters. “We are undertaking this initiative because many of our hospital customers are under severe financial pressures. By providing a free diagnostic analysis of hospital performance we hope to provide practical insights into how costs can be controlled or reduced without affecting quality."
"As the economic climate increases pressure on hospitals to reduce costs, we also must maintain and build on the quality gains the industry has achieved in recent years," said Paul Pawlak, president and CEO of Silver Cross Hospital in Joilet, Ill., which is participating in the project. "The Save $4 Billion campaign provides intelligence that helps hospital executives make decisions that strike this balance."
VHA, Inc., a national healthcare alliance, also supports the campaign.
"The Save $4 Billion campaign can help hospitals mobilize their staffs, focus improvement efforts and demonstrate their commitment to deliver high-quality, cost-effective medical care," said Amy Anthony, senior vice president of supply chain services at VHA.
Hospital executives will receive the new 100 Top Hospitals Performance Matrix, an executive-level balanced scorecard that assesses hospital performance in nine key areas: mortality, medical complications, average length of stay, expenses, profitability, cash-to-debt ratio, patient safety, overall performance and adherence to clinical standards of care.
"The escalating cost of healthcare has many causes, and these causes vary from hospital to hospital," said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs at Thomson Reuters. "The challenge for hospital executives is to identify the specific causes within their own organizations. An objective comparative analysis such as this is a roadmap to effective corrective action."