As COVID-19 and the unprecedented patient care challenges it brought to healthcare organizations recede, hospitals are still reeling from financial strains caused by the pandemic. The AHA estimates that hospitals will lose between $53 billion and $122 billion by the end of this year due to residual effects of COVID-19, depending on vaccine distribution and return of patient volumes.
Still, this is no time for hospitals to hit the brakes on patient safety improvements, even if stepping up patient safety initiatives may seem challenging in the face of significant financial losses. In fact, patient safety and a healthier bottom line go hand-in-hand; if you improve patient safety, your margins will also improve, and for hospitals to return to pre-pandemic patient volumes, it will be vital for hospitals to demonstrate that patient safety is a priority.
Calculating the Value
Healthcare consultancy Sage Growth Partners recently conducted an economic value assessment of the patient-safety enhancing features and functionalities of our clinical surveillance platform.
The assessment—which is based on metrics and reports from peer-reviewed studies, journals, government databases, and other sources—determines a hospital’s potential savings from implementing VigiLanz. The evaluation is customized based on factors such as annual inpatient admissions, number of staffed beds, and daily census.
The assessment found that most hospitals can save millions of dollars by implementing VigiLanz. For example, a small hospital with 50 staffed beds, 3,000 annual admissions, an average daily census of 30, and a bed utilization rate of 50 percent could experience $1.3 million in savings. A large hospital, with 900 staffed beds, 40,000 annual admissions, an average daily census of 700, and a bed utilization rate of 80 percent, could gain $15.5 million in savings.
Hospitals can input their own unique data in order to instantly receive a free, customized report. The report shows the total economic impact the hospital could experience, and it breaks that impact down by potential:
- Cost savings, due to faster and more proactive identification of opportunities to cut costs, such as IV to PO conversions and more optimal management of high-cost drugs.
- Cost avoidance, due to fewer costly events such as hospital acquired infections or conditions, acute kidney injuries due to antibiotic use, adverse drug events, readmissions, and return visits to the emergency department.
- Returned resources, the value of time saved by transitioning from manual to automated processes.
The tool also provides a breakdown of savings by area, such as pharmacy, infection prevention, and safety and quality.
To learn more and to get your custom savings report, please check out the tool. If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about how your hospital can use VigiLanz to improve patient safety and your bottom line, contact us today.
