Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/645291
10 | Impact Cost and Quality with Workforce Strategies Healthcare & RN Retention Report" from Nursing Solutions Inc. 5 , costs increase even more. Acuity-based staffing helps to ensure nurses receive equitable patient assignments utilizing their unique skill sets and experience levels, leading to happier nurses, less turnover and thousands of dollars in savings. CFOs understand the cost to increase staffing, but this expense is often offset by lower readmissions, fewer penalties and better patient outcomes. Managing expenses in these three areas through acuity-based staffing can have far-reaching impacts on care quality and nurse engagement. Staffing Strategies Impact Patient Care Outcomes and the Bottom Line Nurse staffing and scheduling is a complicated process; from analysis of nurse experience and skill sets to availability and budgeting needs, a great deal of work goes into coordinating staffing plans. Acuity-based staffing makes it possible to evaluate actual patient care needs in order to make data-driven decisions. Nurse workload, shift turnover and inefficient patient matching can directly impact patient care in hospitals. In fact, researchers examined data from admissions and 176,696 nursing shifts at an academic medical center and found patient mortality increased as unit shift hours rose and nurse staffing levels dropped 7 . It has been found that patient deaths cost hospitals approximately $20 billion every year 8 . In an era of accountable care, patient outcomes and length of stay are especially important. If patients don't receive adequate care and discharge planning when they are in a health system, they may need to be readmitted, which increases costs for the hospital. Readmission rates have become essential to health systems' receipt of reimbursements through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP). Hospitals that have focused on "right- sizing" their staffing to avoid both under- and over-staffing are better able to cost- effectively keep their readmissions low and prevent penalization through the program. According to a 2013 study in Health Affairs, staffing is the single most significant factor in reducing readmissions. Health systems with higher nurse employment had a 25 percent lower chance of receiving penalizations for readmissions through HRRP than those that had lower nurse staffing levels 9 . Essentially, the higher nurse workloads are and the less nurse managers and staffing coordinators utilize acuity when assigning shifts, the more at-risk patients are for being readmitted. Safe staffing mandates are already in place in numerous states, with more legislation pending. The push for staffing practices that require acuity-based staffing are the most effective at reducing nurse burnout and turnover, increasing patient satisfaction and ensuring high-quality care 6 . In fact, new federal bills that go beyond requiring minimum staffing levels are currently before the Senate and the House of Representatives. If passed, the National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy Act would amend the Public Health Service Act to allow nurses to be patient advocates, and the Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2013 would ensure hospitals maintain strict nurse-patient ratios and appropriately match caregivers with patients for improved care quality and patient safety. With additional staffing regulations on the horizon, it will be even more important to a hospital's bottom line for CFOs and CNOs to collaborate on acuity-based staffing. The Pulse of Your Staff Relates to Dollars Nurse burnout, retention and satisfaction directly affect the hospital's bottom line. While nurse engagement may not seem directly related to health system costs, it's worth a closer look. Nurses put great stake in being able to treat all of their patients safely,