Becker's Hospital Review

46 EXECUTIVE BRIEFING 2 EXECUTIVE BRIEFING SPONSORED BY Balancing it all: Leveraging value analysis for healthcare innovation, quality and cost control Tasked with driving innovation and improving quality while simultaneously controlling costs, healthcare leaders are in an incredibly difficult position. As healthcare costs continue to rise, these challenges become even more critical. Some leaders are leaning on a proven, strategic framework for support. Based on a set of core principles, value analysis is a discipline originally intended to address clinicians' requests for new therapeutic or medical technology. 1 Before adopting new products, it was necessary to evaluate them for efficacy, safety and cost effectiveness in light of organizations' unique patient safety and care standards, finances, and cost-saving objectives. As such, value analysis became integral to the supply chain. However, as the healthcare landscape evolves with increasing complexity and an ever-broadening scope of procedures, diagnoses, tools and technologies, leaders are beginning to view the theory and practice of value analysis in a much more strategic way. Becker's Hospital Review recently spoke with Suzanne Smith, BSN, RN, solution advisor at GHX, about the role of value analysis as organizations pursue innovation and the need to deliver high-quality, evidence-based patient care at a sustainable cost. Enabling cost management without compromising care quality & patient safety Value analysis is a specialized discipline that encompasses a systematic approach to evaluating products, services and processes to ensure optimal quality, application of evidence- based practices, enhanced safety and cost effectiveness. In the current economic and industry environment, healthcare leaders face a two-fold challenge. On one hand, they need to confront escalating labor, supply chain and operational costs. On the other, they must grapple with diminishing reimbursements. As such, value analysis emerges as an essential tool for promoting efficiency while maintaining a focus on the human aspect of healthcare. And while value analysis can be applied to a wide spectrum of supply chain and clinical integration scenarios, perhaps its most pertinent application in healthcare is supporting initiatives aimed at reducing care variation. Care variation drains resources and exposes organizations to the risk of deviating from evidence-based guidelines. For this reason, strategic plans often address it. "I can't think of a better discipline to spearhead that work," Smith said, noting that reducing costs and variation in outcomes for certain diagnoses is a prime use case for value analysis, thanks to its systematic approach in determining whether clinicians and care teams follow the same process every time. A key consideration must be kept in mind, however: value analysis teams and the clinicians participating in them must be given the time, resources, and access to data and information that they need to accomplish this goal. "At GHX, a huge part of our mission as an organization is to help create data efficiencies and free up resources so people can do more meaningful work," Smith said. "We want to move people from transactional to strategic in their roles. Since we can automate a lot of those transactional pieces for health systems, people can better utilize their skill set. Nothing speaks louder than making sure your stakeholders have the resources and the time to do this work." Accelerated technology adoption is fueling the need for value analysis Health systems are investing in innovation to stay competitive and to meet patients' evolving expectations. But as they invest precious dollars in acquiring new technologies — at a time when many are facing lagging operating margins — they need to critically assess whether their investments truly benefit the patient and enhance the clinician experience. "We don't have tolerance for risk in healthcare, so organizations really have to understand how a new product or tool is going to impact patients and staff," Smith said. She cited GHX's Lumere consulting service, which supports organizations' strategic sourcing initiatives and evaluates potential safety concerns before new technologies are piloted internally for validation — ultimately helping to drive savings. 2 "That's a much faster way than bringing something into your hospital and having to evaluate it hands on for 12 or 14 weeks before you can understand the potential impact," Smith said.

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