WASHINGTON – Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and Western Connecticut Health Network’s Danbury Hospital were recently recognized for their use of IT to bring meaningful data to their physicians, leading to a boost in hospital efficiency and millions in savings without compromising patient care.
The two hospitals were honored by the Advisory Board Company for their use of its CRIMSON Web-based services with a 2011 CRIMSON Physician Partnership Award that recognized their improvements in clinical outcomes while documenting a combined $4.6 million in annual savings.
RWJ University Hospital
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) was recognized for its pilot program in which 50 physicians improved their average length of stay (ALOS) by 8 percent and average cost per case by $276.
The program yielded such strong immediate improvements that the institution doubled the number of participating physicians within 12 months. RWJUH finished the program’s initial year with $1.7 million in measured savings, far eclipsing its $400,000 goal.
To ensure that the program engaged physicians from the outset, Joshua Bershad, MD, MBA, senior vice president of medical affairs and CMO for RWJUH, met individually with physicians to review specific opportunities to reach an appropriate ALOS. He followed up with physicians individually and in groups with monthly trending and progress data.
“CRIMSON technology is designed to share information with doctors in a format that makes sense to them,” said Bershad. He said the technology took data that already existed, aggregated it and created a Web-based user interface that showed physician comparative performance data.
The interface allows physicians to view data – such as how many patients they have in the hospital, what their conditions are and the severity – in a “recognizable and searchable” format, Bershad added.
He said he often tells people that CRIMSON “moves at the speed of conversation” because it allows doctors to find information on their patients in real time.
Danbury Hospital
Danbury Hospital was honored for its DRG (diagnosis-related group) Cost Efficiency Project, which targeted eight high-volume DRGs: congestive heart failure, stroke, pneumonia chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), gastrointestinal bleeding, vascular surgery, joint replacement and psychosis.
Matthew Miller, MD, chief medical officer for Danbury Hospital, said the hospital saw a $2.9 million charge reduction for these eight areas and reduced overall charge-per-case by 10 percent.
Miller said even though the hospital focused on specific diagnoses, the habits that physicians learned had a halo effect on other diagnoses.
He said when the hospital “just looked at medical DRGs and all related diagnoses (e.g. all pulmonary instead of just pneumonia and COPD) the charge reductions due to halo effect were $6 million.”
Prior to using CRIMSON, the data available to physicians tended “to be old and static,” he said.
“It wasn’t risk adjusted, you couldn’t query it, and it wasn’t linked to quality data,” he said. “What CRIMSON brought to us is a tool that shows doctors very clearly information regarding their patients including quality data.”
Based on the data that it provided, physicians were able to identify areas where they could reduce variations in care and still improve quality, he added.
“These two members have achieved breathtaking gains in organizational performance by effectively engaging physicians – not just as clinical decision makers but also as business partners,” said Paul Roscoe, CEO of CRIMSON. “Hospital-physician collaboration that produces demonstrable value will be central to success in the coming accountable payment environment. We applaud these hospitals for their ongoing commitment to efficient care that benefits patients and the larger community.”
