TMCnet News
California-Based Hospitals Joining Collaborative to Better Manage Costs Associated with Labor, Enhance Care Quality in a Reform EnvironmentCHARLOTTE, N.C. --(Business Wire)-- To help reduce costs without negative effects on quality, hospitals and health systems in California are joining a labor-related management collaborative managed by the Premier healthcare alliance. Hospitals stand to lose almost $200 billion in reimbursement during the next decade as a part of healthcare reform, and additional reimbursement dollars will be tied to their ability to improve quality and prevent harm. Premier's California Labor Management Collaborative (CLMC) aims to help participants improve efficiencies while maintaining care quality by comparing participant labor expenses and productivity levels to peer hospitals, as well as state and national top performers. CLMC participants will use OperationsAdvisor® (OA), Premier's Web-based labor benchmarking and productivity solution. With customer validated savings exceeding a 14:1 return on investment average, OA has helped hospitals reduce costs through more efficient labor management. For example, a New Mexico healthcare system achieved $10 million savings and a Maryland healthcare system saved more than $5 million, both in one year, using the solution. p> CLMC hospitals will also benefit from an on-site labor management engineer expert who will evaluate the effectiveness of participant labor management programs. The engineer will also assist with the installation, training and orientation of appropriate employees to OA and the incorporation of labor benchmarks into budgeting processes."With labor costs comprising more than half of provider operating budgets, it is imperative that healthcare executives deploy effective labor management programs to not only contain rising costs but also battle diminishing margins, all without negatively impacting patient safety," said Susan DeVore, Premier president and CEO. "The ability to benchmark and compare against local and national top performers and to learn from their successes is an integral first step toward driving these results." Said Eric Kammer, national director of LaborConnect® for Premier, "Our more than 40 years of experience in this area has shown that organizations that effectively deploy a sound labor management program have more efficient operations, which leads to stronger bottom lines. As hospitals share productivity data and best practices around process improvement as a part of this collaborative, we believe that the collective whole of healthcare delivery within the state will improve and become more efficient." The CLMC will use Premier's collaborative methodology, a disciplined, measured and organized performance improvement mechanism that has demonstrated impressive results through projects such as the Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration™ (HQID) value-based purchasing project and the QUEST®: High Performing Hospitals collaborative. With more than 500 subscribing facilities, OA integrates a productivity measurement system with quarterly and annual benchmarking. It offers a unique combination of productivity monitoring, assessment and comparative data so that hospitals can confidently compare operational performance, identify attainable performance improvement opportunities and achieve a rapid return on investment. OA is part of Premier's LaborConnect program, an integrated product and service offering that combines productivity, benchmarking, management engineering and executive consulting. The program is aimed at addressing the pressing labor challenges facing hospitals and healthcare organizations today. CLMC recruitment continues through September 2010. For more information, contact Michele F. Graynor at [email protected] or 312.502.3422. About the Premier healthcare alliance, 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,300 U.S. hospitals and 68,000-plus other healthcare sites working together to achieve high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has offices in San Diego, Philadelphia and Washington. http://www.premierinc.com. |
