Geisinger Offers Surgery With Warranty
Geisinger Health System of central Pennsylvania is evaluating a radical approach to improve healthcare outcomes for patients undergoing elective heart bypass surgery: a warranty plan. The healthcare group will not charge for additional hospitalizations or care if complications arise from the procedure.
The group presented results from the first complete year of the effort at the April meeting of the American Surgical Association.
Part of the program required determining the best practice, standard protocol for this procedure, as defined by seven different clinicians. Developing a universal practice guideline for implementation required gaining support from the providers with disparate views and evaluating the literature guidelines.
The group created a forty-item care checklist. Current data from recent months indicates 100 percent compliance, compared to 59 percent at the program baseline.
Preliminary results are promising and Geisinger plans to expand the program to include other common procedures.
In the meantime, the innovative approach may propel other hospitals, providers, and insurers to consider novel, unique, and even controversial approaches to reform the healthcare system and encourage optimal patient care.
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May 17, 2007 Related topics: Finance, Quality, Safety, Errors