Performance-improvement strategies can reduce costs

Hospitals continue to be challenged to reduce costs while providing high-quality care. Cost-reduction methods that hospitals can use successfully include cost data, interdisciplinary approaches, benchmarking, clinical pathways, physician profiling, and case management. Cost reduction also can be achieved through performance inprovement. One performance-improvement-strategy is the FOCUS-PDCA model. The letters in the model's name refer to the following steps: Find a process that needs improvement, Organize a team that knows the process, Clarify current knowledge of the process, Understand the process and learn the causes of the variation, Select the improvement opportunities, Plan the change, Do, Check the results, and Act by implementing the change. The FOCUS-PDCA model was used by an East Texas regional hospital to reduce the costs relaed to cholecystectomy surgeries performed there.