Premier Inc. Releases the Five Strategic Elements of Care Delivery Optimization
Guide is aimed at helping health systems achieve long-term performance improvement and sustainability in an
evolving industry
Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), a leading healthcare improvement company, has released the five strategic elements of a healthcare
culture that is centered on optimal care delivery in an evolving industry.
Premier’s new guidebook, Creating a Culture of Optimal Care Delivery, provides an industry-leading framework for health system
leaders that can be used to achieve long-term hospital and health system performance improvement sustainability.
“Health systems are being challenged with shrinking budgets as they increasingly take on more risk and learn to operate in a new
competitive environment,” said Kelly Conklin, MSN, RN, co-author and Vice President of Quality and Safety Advisory Services at
Premier®. “To thrive in today’s market, health systems need a focused, comprehensive organizational strategy to rein in
costs, build new care delivery models and become the choice provider in their local markets. Stated simply, dollars follow
investments in care delivery optimization.”
The guidebook was developed to help healthcare organizations deliver the most efficient, effective and caring healthcare
experience to every patient, every time. Essential success factors include having the right data and analytics to analyze
opportunities and continuously monitor and improve performance, engaging physicians in every care redesign project, following
systemwide evidenced-based protocols with effective care management programs, keeping leadership and staff accountable, and
ensuring every practice follows established high reliability standards.
“As healthcare organizations navigate the maze of federal regulations, the public and private sector transition to value-based
care, and the new competitive environment, they are struggling to find practical solutions to improve quality and reduce costs,”
said Erika Sundrud, MA, LSSMBB, co-author and Principal Performance Partner at Premier. “Through its collaboratives and other
initiatives, Premier and its members have created a care delivery optimization framework that is essential for survival in today’s
healthcare environment.”
Specifically, the guidebook recommends that healthcare organizations assess, identify, build and sustain performance improvement
initiatives that align providers and optimize care delivery practices by:
1. Assessing organizational readiness and creating a strategic approach to achieving aims cost effectively.
2. Securing hospital-clinician alignment to achieve buy-in and engagement around a care transformation effort.
3. Transforming care processes across the continuum using evidence-based care pathways and multidisciplinary teams.
4. Managing patients across settings by aligning resources across pre- and post-acute services to promote whole-person care and
avoid duplicative, unnecessary or high-cost services.
5. Ensuring high reliability across the continuum by regularly reassessing and hardwiring improvements into practice
systematically, across all staff.
“Aligning these initiatives with clinicians is imperative for health systems seeking to improve efficiencies, avoid penalties
and prepare themselves for payment models that reward collaboration,” said Andy Edeburn, MA, co-author and Principal Performance
Partner at Premier. “Whether an organization has employed physicians, is partnering with independent physicians, or both, they must
plan alongside each other so that the care transformation efforts are valuable to both parties.”
For more than 20 years, Premier, alongside some of the nation’s most advanced hospitals and health systems, has collected,
tested and measured leading practices to improve outcomes and costs. This includes its QUEST® quality improvement
collaborative, where approximately 350 hospitals saved approximately $18 billion and 200,000 lives over nine years. Based on its
years of industry experience and robust clinical, financial and operational analytics, Premier has established multiphased roadmaps
for creating and implementing successful and sustainable care delivery practices.
“Over the years, Premier and its members have built a continuous performance improvement methodology that relies on data and
collaboration to ensure that the best practice is the standard practice,” said Madeleine Biondolillo, MD, MBA, co-author and Vice
President of Engagement and Delivery at Premier. “Best practices in this guidebook were documented from top-performing
organizations and tested in national Premier collaboratives where members share data and outcomes to accelerate and sustain
quality, efficiency, cost and safety innovations across their organizations. This framework is not theoretical; it is backed by
science.”
About Premier Inc.
Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC) is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of more than 4,000 U.S. hospitals
and health systems and approximately 165,000 other providers and organizations to transform healthcare. With integrated data and
analytics, collaboratives, supply chain solutions, and consulting and other services, Premier enables better care and outcomes at a
lower cost. Premier plays a critical role in the rapidly evolving healthcare industry, collaborating with members to co-develop
long-term innovations that reinvent and improve the way care is delivered to patients nationwide. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C.,
Premier is passionate about transforming American healthcare. Please visit Premier’s news and investor sites on www.premierinc.com;
as well as
Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn,
YouTube,
Instagram and
Premier’s blog for more information about the company.
Premier Inc.
Morgan Guthrie, 704-816-4152
Morgan_Guthrie@PremierInc.com
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