For Bellin Health, a member of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Leadership Alliance since its inception six years ago, the checklist woke up leaders to the issue of diagnostic errors, said Jim Dietsche, chief operating and financial officer of the Green Bay, Wis.-based system.
Eliminating diagnostic errors can save the healthcare system about $100 billion a year through avoiding unneeded testing, wrong treatments and litigation costs, according to the alliance.
Each year, Bellin sets a goal of spending about $6 million to $8 million less than the previous year through waste reduction. The goal is maintaining Bellin’s operating margin at around 4%.
Frontline staff are encouraged to come up with solutions where waste can be reduced in their departments. Once physicians became a part of alternative payment models that showed them their cost and quality data regularly, they got more interested.