Sourcing & Supply Chain

“Value Analysis Program - Improved Patient Care & Reduced Expenses”
By Michelle Reynolds, Value Analysis Clinical Coordinator

Innovative Business Solutions are happening throughout F & A, but a clear case is seen within the UM Sourcing & Supply Chain division of Management Services (the System Procurement group for University Health Care). By finding an innovative solution to a business problem, not only was patient care improved, but over $70,000 was saved through the procurement of standardized products for the treatment of hospital acquired pressure ulcers. This story has become a case study for University Health System Consortium Hospitals and will soon be published as an example of “best practices”.

The UM Sourcing and Supply Chain team has a Value Analysis Program where System staff work in cooperation with MUHC clinicians and physicians to decrease supply expense and increase the quality of patient care. This program started with an announcement in October 2008 by the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicate Services (CMS) that they would no longer reimburse for eight “reasonably preventable” conditions – one of which is hospital acquired pressure ulcers (which are among the most prevalent, costly and dangerous on the list).

At the time, 6.1% of MUHC patients were diagnosed with this condition. Not getting reimbursement for treatment of this condition thru CMS would cost the University over $90,000 each year due to lengthening hospital stays from the ulcers interfering with the patient’s recovery, increasing their risk of infection, not to mention causing extreme pain and discomfort, and sometimes death to the patient (in the U.S., nearly 60,000 deaths each year are reported from these ulcers).

The Value Analysis Program formed a multi-disciplinary Skin Care Task Force to review skin care products and practices, determine a standardization of products and methods with a measurable improvement in patient care, and then to coordinate efforts across MUHC to implement these practices.

From 23 different products being applied in a myriad of methods, the best suited product line (based on review of evidence-based literature, interviews with vendors, and trials of the top 3 products) and the introduction of a required Skin Care Core Curriculum to teach best practices for each staff nurse by the Clinical Education and Development office presented amazing results.

The incidence of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers had decreased from 6.1% to 1.4% (a significant improvement in the quality of patient care outcomes), with an overall net savings of over $70,000 each year. Other medical business issues are being reviewed by the Value Analysis Program – finding innovative business solutions in today’s world.

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 8:03 am and is filed under 2010 - 1st Quarter.