Dimensional Insight Announces Customer Western Maryland Health System Decreases Acetaminophen Costs 78% with Diver Platform
WMHS uses analytics in its pharmacy to reduce drug costs and determine efficacy of medications
Press Release
February 5, 2018
Media Contact:
Kathy Sucich at Dimensional Insight
781.419.2145
[email protected]
Burlington, Mass. – February 5, 2018 – Dimensional Insight, a developer of analytics and data management solutions for complex and highly regulated industries, today announced that its customer, Western Maryland Health System (WMHS), based in Cumberland, Md., is using Dimensional Insight’s Diver Platform in its hospital pharmacy to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes. With Diver, WMHS has been able to greatly reduce its yearly cost of IV acetaminophen as well as test the efficacy of other medications.
WMHS is a rural hospital that serves patients in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. It implemented Dimensional Insight’s Diver Platform in 2012 to help better navigate the state of Maryland’s new value-based reimbursement model. With Diver’s help, Western Maryland greatly enhanced its position on key quality indicators in just two years, peaking at 1st in the state after starting out as 46th out of 46 hospitals.
The hospital continually looks for ways to use Diver to make positive changes in operations and patient care. After the cost of the IV form of acetaminophen jumped 250% to $35 per vial, WMHS decided to use Diver to determine whether the drug actually produced better outcomes than the oral version of the drug did, justifying the increased cost.
After examining various surgical procedures, patient lengths of stay, and number of opiates given, WMHS found no significant difference in patient outcomes with IV acetaminophen. As a result, Western Maryland sharply decreased the amount of the drug that it purchased, reducing its spending by 78% over two years, from nearly $250,000 in FY15 to just over $55,000 in FY17.
“It was an easy sell for us because when you deal on the theory that your oral medication works as well as your IV, you don’t need to spend $35 per dose when you can get it for pennies,” says Surender Kanaparthi, director of pharmacy services at Western Maryland Health System, and the lead on this project.
Next, the hospital decided to test the non-formulary drug Entereg, which might increase the pharmacy budget but decrease overall cost of care for patients with major intestinal surgeries. The hospital tested Entereg for about six months on 30 patients, while keeping all other variables the same. After analyzing the results in Diver, the hospital found that patients on Entereg had shorter lengths of stay and less readmission than other patients. That resulted in a cost savings of $112,000 over 6 months.
Moving forward, WMHS is trying to identify disease states that have higher than expected lengths of stay, which are areas where improvements can make a big difference in clinical outcomes and/or spending. With Diver, the hospital can analyze how it is managing these patients and modify protocols and order sets according to what’s working or not working.
“Our senior leadership is very supportive in expanding use of Diver to all other departments because they see the value that it brings throughout the organization,” says Colby Lutz, business intelligence analyst at Western Maryland Health System. “Our hospital is committed to improving quality for patients while decreasing the cost of care, and Diver helps us do that.”
To learn more about how Western Maryland Health System is using Diver, please visit: https://www.healthcare.dimins.com/resources/case-studies/decreasing-acetaminophen-costs/
About Dimensional Insight
Dimensional Insight is a leading provider of analytics and data management solutions, offering a complete portfolio of capabilities ranging from data integration and modeling to sophisticated reporting, analytics, and dashboards. Founded in 1989, Dimensional Insight has thousands of customer organizations worldwide. Dimensional Insight’s Diver Platform™ consistently ranks as a top performing analytics platform by customers and industry analysts in its core market segments including healthcare, manufacturing, and beverage alcohol. For more information, please visit https://www.dimins.com.
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