AHRMM

This is an executive summary of the case study published in the 2016 AHRMM CQO Report. Access to the full report is a member-only benefit. Not an AHRMM member? Join today.

Overview

As the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) Triple Aim continues to be adopted by hospitals and health systems as a framework for implementing major improvements, AHRMM has established a clear and important connection between AHRMM’s Cost, Quality, and Outcomes (CQO) Movement and the goals of the Triple Aim.

In 2014, AHRMM hosted the first Cost, Quality, and Outcomes (CQO) Summit to bring healthcare thought leaders together and discuss particular supply chain issues and concerns. The results of those conversations were used to develop the first task force and to shape the agenda for the second CQO Summit, held in 2015.

Increasing federal regulation compliance costs and declining reimbursements have compressed hospital profitability. This is leading hospitals to turn to Supply Chain to reduce direct costs for supplies, devices, drugs, and purchased services. Traditionally Supply Chain has aggressively pursued these cost reductions through price reduction tactics. These techniques, however, are yielding diminishing savings returns.

Introduction
Healthcare provider stakeholders, including physicians, clinicians and supply chain professionals utilize data to make procurement decisions for medical devices to ensure and improve patient access to high quality devices. The integrity of these decisions depends upon the accuracy and completeness of the underlying data. There are three (3) significant challenges to accurate and complete data on medical device quality: