The University of Utah Hospital. 

A study in JAMA looked at a value-driven outcomes program aimed at identifying high variability in clinical costs and outcomes and the program’s association with reduced cost and improved quality.

An objective, the researchers said, was “to measure the association of a value-driven outcomes tool that allocates costs of care and quality measures to individual patient encounters with cost reduction and health outcome optimization.”

This was an “uncontrolled, pre-post, longitudinal, observational study measuring quality and outcomes relative to cost from 2012 to 2016 at University of Utah Health Care. Clinical improvement projects included total hip and knee joint replacement, hospitalist laboratory utilization, and management of sepsis.”

The researchers concluded: “Implementation of a multifaceted value-driven outcomes tool to identify high variability in costs and outcomes in a large single health care system was associated with reduced costs and improved quality for 3 selected clinical projects. There may be benefit for individual physicians to understand actual care costs (not charges) and outcomes achieved for individual patients with defined clinical conditions.”

To read the report, please hit this link.