Healthcare costs in the US are at an all time high. And, while we may be on the brink of a universal healthcare system that may help reduce costs over time, any benefits will take years to be realized. So, how can we save money starting now? One way is for hospitals to look at their practices and processes and find ways to increase their efficiency. Here are several ways hospitals could save money by increasing efficiency.
Reduce mistakes – Efficiency measures like paperless charts and electronic prescriptions reduce mistakes. When mistakes are made, complications arise, and hospital stays are longer. By reducing the number of patient errors, you’ll see costs lowered through fewer readmissions, fewer additional illnesses that need to be treated and shorter hospital stays overall. You’ll also see malpractice suits decrease, which, over time can reduce the amount hospitals must pay for malpractice coverage.
Provide clinics – Urgent and primary care clinics are an efficient way to provide healthcare services. They improve efficiency in two major ways. The first is that they reduce visits to the ER. Many people come to the ER because they have nowhere else to go. If these people could receive treatment for more minor issues in urgent care and primary care clinics, ER visits would be reduced to those who really need emergency care, reducing overall ER costs. Secondly, easy to access clinics encourage people to get preventative care and early treatment. Both of these reduce the number of people who let illnesses go untreated, often resulting in a hospital stay that could have been avoided.
Stay fully staffed – Hospitals often cut corners when it comes to staffing. After all, fewer people to pay means lower costs, right? Wrong. When hospitals are understaffed, employees get burned out. They make more mistakes, take more sick days and there is higher employee turnover. When turnover is high, the costs of training new employees goes up, increasing costs. When hospitals hire an adequate number of staff members they see improved efficiency in each worker, fewer sick days taken, fewer mistakes made and employees who stick around.
Go green – There are many changes that hospitals can make that will not only benefit the environment, but will save money, too. Eliminating paper charts, as mentioned above is a big one. But, making other changes, like using recyclable IV bags and cleaning and reusing sharps containers can save hospitals thousands of dollars each year. Many hospitals don’t even recycle and instead throw everything away as though it were all hazardous waste.
Pay salaries to doctors – Doctors are typically paid fees for each service they provide, encouraging them to order tests that aren’t really needed just to line their pockets. Paying doctors a salary, instead, would encourage them to use resources more wisely and put their focus on patient care, rather than billed services.
True healthcare reform is still a long way off, regardless of what congress passes. But there are plenty of ways hospitals can improve efficiency, with or without the government.
Mary E. Ward writes about how to get an mha online.