Opportunity for Improvement
This nationally ranked health system is deeply committed to bringing the best clinical outcomes to their patients. The health system’s leaders consistently review the latest data and research to ensure that their teams are using best practices to improve outcomes and, when possible, reduce costs.
The research and findings that Accumen’s patient blood management team presented, which revealed the potential benefit of implementing a comprehensive patient blood management program, were compelling and sparked immediate action.
Hospitals spend billions of dollars on blood acquisition each year, while studies have shown that 40 to 60 percent of all blood transfusions are avoidable or unnecessary. The health system’s overuse rate of 20 to 25 percent, while far better than that of some institutions, was still worth engaging and improving.
“Our physicians and nurses had already embraced the need and efficacy of PBM programs and the team at Accumen really took how we defined our patient blood management efforts to the next level.” – Chief Medical Officer
- Facility type: Nonprofit
- Facilities: Eight hospitals and 42 Affiliations
- Personnel: 5,000+ employees and 889 affiliated physicians
- Annual blood budget: $4.4M
Identifying the Optimal
With over 30 years of specialization in patient blood management, Accumen’s expert team has set the standard of excellence in PBM programs. With engaged and dedicated practitioners, like those of our partner, identifying an optimal – and achievable -- future state ignited their desire to take their patient blood management program to the next level.
Standardized Practices
One of the challenges with larger systems such as this is establishing protocols that will be embraced and adapted across the system, from nurses, to physicians, to the lab and beyond. Taking a customized approach developed especially for this particular health system, Accumen rolled out standardized practices that contributed to cost savings of XX% in the first XX months. As a result, an estimated XX patients were not exposed to blood products in 2018.
Partnership Shared Savings Model
It’s challenging to justify making changes based on cost-reduction projections alone. Accumen’s partnership shared savings model gave the health system the opportunity to realize improvements with a payment model tied directly to the cost savings achieved.
“A mark of great leadership is…
…making space to innovate and do ever-better. We’re proud of our leadership’s commitment in the patient blood management space in particular. It truly is our most precious resource.”
Our Work’s Impact
In just 2 years, their patient blood management program has saved > 1.1 million dollars associated with blood acquisition costs and over $4.5 million in ABC (activity based costs); not including costs saved for reduced transfusion related complications, preserved a precious community resource, and proactively reduced the risk of inappropriate and avoidable patient exposure to blood products, while improving quality, patient care and clinical outcomes.
Looking Forward
The need for blood within hospital systems will continue to grow. To positively affect patient outcomes and achieve cost savings, forward-looking healthcare organizations must focus their attention on patient blood management. Accumen continues to be an innovator in this space, bringing new tools and technology into the services they provide to support PBM’s continued evolution.
Because of our work with this health system, RBC transfusions for HGB <7.0 g/dl went from 50% to 70% (goal was 65%), RBC transfusions for HGB 8.0 g/dl or greater went from 22% to 8% (goal was 10%), and Single unit RBC went from 50% to 85% (goal was 80%). These changes had a profound impact: patients’ lives were saved, and we were better stewards to our greatest lifesaving resource: blood.