Cost cutting in health systems without compromising quality care

Intermountain Healthcare is a high-performing health system and a recognized leader in quality improvement. We use a clinical integration strategy focused on eight clinical programs to support the practice of evidence-based care. Accelerated improvements that enhance patient safety, clinical excellence, and operational efficiency are tested and then spread across the system via care process models and program-specific board goals. While we have nearly 60 evidence-based care process models in place (in addition to multiple operational effectiveness initiatives), we provide three exemplars to illustrate cost savings and the relative impact on hospital/medical group versus payer benefit. These clinical best practices include very early lung recruitment (VE LR) for neonates with respiratory distress syndrome, guidelines for elective inductions in labor and delivery, and prevention of congestive heart failure (CHF) readmissions. Due to perverse incentives in the third party payment system--where healthcare providers are often paid to do more tests and treatments as opposed to providing clinical value--doing what's right for our patients commonly yields savings to our payers while negatively impacting the delivery system budget. In this article, we present a suggested strategy for negotiated capture of these savings.