| Christiana Care Health System Saves More Than $12 Million Using Collaborative, Sustainable Approach |
| Wilmington, DE |
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| The Issue |
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Christiana Care Health System and MedAssets have been working together since 2003 with goals to significantly decrease costs, improve supply chain operations, and improve contracts and efficiencies. The team at Christiana Care, one of the nation’s largest not-for- profit private teaching health systems, has maintained its determination to meet this goal without compromising the quality of care.
Six years ago, the specific challenge for Ray Seigfried, senior vice president, was to decrease costs by $2.5 million. To accomplish these results, Seigfried and MedAssets employed an approach focused largely on physician preference items (PPI), custom contract analysis, group purchasing contract services and supply chain optimization technology. Christiana Care, along with clinical and financial consulting expertise from Aspen Healthcare Metrics, a MedAssets company, worked with an established committee system comprised equally of physicians and administrators, to evaluate PPI price point and benchmark data from similar facilities across the country. The fact-based data provided a credible starting point from which the team of physicians could base their research and conclusions since it fit the same criteria rooted in the research methodology that drives all clinician decisionmaking. This methodology is still used within the organization today.
In the first year of partnership with MedAssets Christiana Care reduced PPI costs by more than 6 percent, and generated over $2.9 million in supply chain and pharmacy savings, surpassing the initial goal.
The team’s next challenge was apparent – making these new effective processes sustainable over the course of the next five years. The team had to work together to define the next priority area for focused efforts, how to build on the momentum created internally, and continue to drive savings. |
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| The Solution |
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Where Christiana Care enjoyed a level of collaboration and mutual respect between clinicians and administrators, its committee review model allowed administrators and clinicians to deliver the highest level of care, while becoming more educated buyers to keep costs within reason.
Together, they evaluated all supply chain issues – new equipment and contracts – as well as any other initiatives that impact costs and the facility’s ability to deliver the highest level of quality care. At the conclusion of each review the committee was charged with making
recommendations as a collective group. “There was a newfound collective sense of commitment, enabling us to build stronger relationships while also building support for future decisions regarding implementation,” says Seigfried.
Where MedAssets has continued to play its biggest role is in the preparation of data for the supply chain department and often committee reviews – providing actionable information for savings opportunities. Aspen provides Christiana Care with information on its supply expenses compared to similar facilities across the nation. It provides the health system with consulting on PPI, identifying areas for savings and working with physicians on considerations. MedAssets assists with custom contracts and MedAssets Analytical Systems provides Christiana Care with information on how it’s utilizing its contracts for all of its supplies, helping to identify savings opportunities within the contract portfolio as well as price audits.
“Our initial work with MedAssets was overwhelming in that we learned we could do better without compromising quality and we were able to provide helpful data to our physicians at the same time,” says Seigfried. “The collaborative team approach and holistic review continue to allow us to get the best out of everyone involved, demonstrating that we’ve done our due diligence and ultimately providing the best value for our patients.” |
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| The Results |
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In total, Christiana Care has saved more than $12 million over a six-year successful partnership utilizing MedAssets’ solutions and expertise regarding physician preference items, in addition to clinical and financial outcomes.
Unlike many other organizations, Christiana Care’s supply chain optimization program is designed for continuous improvement and reset on a new baseline every year. Applying MedAssets’supply chain optimization and analytics tools, the teams can ensure that Christiana Care stays on track to meet current goals.
Christiana Care is able to leverage products and contracts specific to their needs and pricing transparency based on MedAssets’ flexible approach to spend management. An added and surprising benefit over the years is that a vast majority of the suppliers in place when the change was implemented six years ago continue to be in place today. And Seigfried’s team continues to use data to effectively negotiate pricing on existing contracts.
Seigfried attributes successes with PPI and enhanced physician relationships to the Aspen team’s extensive product knowledge on all items, “from pacemakers to widgets,” and their ability to consult with physicians, speaking their language and to communicate clinical outcomes.
Today, Christiana Care continues work with MedAssets to focus on sustainable cost savings in the supply chain, and uses MedAssets revenue cycle management tools to improve reimbursement efficiencies and increase net patient revenue. | |
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Aspen's PPI work is guaranteed to reduce spend on PPI by 5-18%. |
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