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Purpose. Improved outcomes and cost savings achieved at a large hospital through a drug utilization benchmarking and reporting initiative are described. Summary. Using the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) Clinical Resource Manager (CRM) database, the University of Kansas Hospital identified nine target areas (based on Medicare Severity Diagnosis- Related Group) in which the hospital's drug-utilization practices were deemed suboptimal relative to those of other UHC member facilities with similar caseloads. The pharmacy department developed a CRM template for generating customized reports comparing the hospital's performance on various drug-utilization metrics with that of top-performing peers (i.e., institutions achieving the best patient care outcomes in terms of mortality and length of stay) in the nine target areas. A pre-post comparison of drug-utilization data collected before and after implementation of the reporting initiative indicated improved outcomes in all nine initially selected target areas, with estimated cumulative annualized cost savings of about $900,000. The CRM-generated reports are now distributed semiannually to attending physicians and other hospital leaders via electronic and hard-copy means, focusing on variances from UHC top-performer and overall UHC averages in the use of higher-cost drugs. The reporting initiative has generally fostered enhanced physician-pharmacist collaboration in the investigation of identified drug-utilization variances and implementation of practice changes. Conclusion. By evaluating service-specific trends of internal drug utilization against external benchmarks and emulating prescribing practices at top-performing institutions, an academic medical center has achieved improved patient care outcomes and cost savings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. Patient safety and cost-control benefits achieved through a medical center's conversion to commercial fluids for continuous renal-replacement therapy (CRRT) are described. Summary. In keeping with national patient safety recommendations, a medical center undertook a quality-improvement initiative to increase the standardization of CRRT fluids and associated patient care practices. After a feasibility study to ascertain CRRT fluid usage patterns and baseline costs, an appropriate commercial product was selected. The transition was implemented over several months in a three-phase process entailing (1) conversion to a commercial product for regional citrate anticoagulation, (2) changing the standard formula on preprinted orders to one that modeled a commercial product, and (3) conversion to the actual commercial product as the standard. Thorough education of all parties involved, as well as modifications to preprinted orders, occurred during each phase of the project. The use of the commercial product reduced the need for pharmacy compounding of CRRT fluids by more than 80%. A postconversion cost analysis indicated sharp reductions of product and labor (i.e., compounding) expenses relative to estimated baseline costs, with estimated total savings of at least $399,290 during the first six months after the conversion initiative. Implementation challenges included the need to manually adjust the potassium content of the commercial CRRT fluid and the need to provide i.v. supplementation of phosphorus and magnesium to some patients receiving the fluid. The initiative emphasized the need for institution-specific research and planning before conversion initiatives targeting CRRT fluids and other critical therapies, as well as proper education and training of all parties involved. Conclusion. The standardization of CRRT fluids using commercially available products improved a medical center's compliance with patient safety standards and yielded substantial cost savings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]