BCBSA News Media Tip Sheet (Patient Safety)
May 11, 2011
Patient Safety
The Blues: Putting Patients First
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association’s Blue Distinction® is a designation awarded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies to medical facilities that have demonstrated expertise in delivering safe and high quality healthcare in the areas of bariatric surgery, cardiac care, complex and rare cancers, knee and hip replacement, spine surgery and transplants. Blue Distinction Centers® meet and exceed hospital-wide quality and patient safety criteria. Today, there are 1,900 Blue Distinction Centers throughout 47 states and the District of Columbia. Compared with other facilities, Blue Distinction Centers® have a 26% lower complication rate for bariatric surgery, a 22% lower readmission rate for laparoscopic gastric bypasses, deliver laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding at a cost averaging 11% less, deliver outpatient angioplasties for 11.8% less and bypass surgeries for 4.8% less, and reduce hospital readmissions by 32% and 21% respectively.
In addition to Blue Distinction Centers®, Blue Plans across the country have partnered with hospitals to improve the quality of hospital-based patient care.
In California, more than 50 hospitals have committed to saving hundreds of patient lives and millions of healthcare dollars by reducing healthcare-associated infections through an initiative supported by a total of $4.5 million from the Blue Shield of California Foundation to use state-of-the-art data-mining technology to allow for the early detection and rapid treatment of healthcare-associated infections.
Through its California Healthcare-Associated Infection Prevention Initiative BSCF aims to make significant reductions: 2,000 fewer patients contracting HAIs, 15,000 fewer patient hospital days, and $30 million in avoided costs to patients and hospitals. The program provides hospitals with new tools and data as well as the opportunity to collaborate with other organizations across the state to implement best practices. The program has grown from an initial 18-month pilot started with nine hospitals in 2005. During the course of the 18-month pilot, more than 600 infections were prevented, resulting in 4,640 fewer patient hospital days. BSCF estimates its initial $1 million investment in the CHAIPI pilot lowered costs of care by more than $9 million.
Fueled by the impressive results, the BSCF committed to expand the program to include 51 nonprofit hospitals, which received advanced training by infection prevention leaders. Initial results from only 10 of the hospitals participating in this second phase shows that 905 patients were likely prevented from acquiring an infection, hospitals alone saved over $4.1 million, and there was a 29 percent reduction in MRSA, a bacterial infection that is highly resistant to antibiotics.
Similarly, the likelihood of having life-threatening blood clots that can develop during hospitalization, hospital acquired infections, harmful drug interactions, dosing errors or patient falls at hospitals in southeastern Pennsylvania has been dramatically reduced through The Partnership for Patient Care, a region-wide initiative supported by Independence Blue Cross since 2006. IBC has contributed $5 million to the multi-year patient safety and quality initiative facilitated by The Health Care Improvement Foundation and involving more than 70 hospitals.
Current projects include assessing the patient safety culture at each hospital and spearheading an initiative to reduce hospital readmissions by 10 percent in 18 months. The program is a true collaborative with a steering committee that annually targets key patient safety issues in the region that are then analyzed by the entire healthcare community to develop and implement solutions.
The approach is having a dramatic impact on care. Results include a 36 percent reduction of bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections associated with catheters have been reduced by 13 percent, wrong-site surgeries have been cut in half, and pressure ulcers have been reduced by as much as 76 percent.
For more information, contact Kelly Miller, kelly.miller@bcbsa.com, 202.626.4825.
