News
Hospital collaborative program cuts costs by billions and reduces deaths by 29%
Premier Healthcare Alliance
CHARLOTTE, N.C., AND WASHINGTON, D.C. – In three years, 157 hospitals participating in the Premier healthcare alliance’s Quest: High Performing Hospitals national collaborative have saved an estimated 24,820 lives and reduced healthcare spending by nearly $4.5 billion.
The Quest collaboration can be adopted by any hospital in the nation seeking to track performance against a higher standard of care. If all hospitals in the country had been able to achieve similar results, estimates project an additional 87,250 lives and $34 billion more could be saved across all payors each year. These are savings that hospitals can use to reinvest in care improvements for their local communities.
When compared to a national group with similar characteristics, the mortality rate among Quest hospitals was 29 percent lower than national averages, according to Medicare data from federal fiscal year 2009, the most recent year of this information.
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics suggests that Quest hospital inpatient costs only increased by about 2 percent above the rate of inflation over three years (2008-2010). In contrast, non-participant costs increased by an average of 17 percent above inflation.
