CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 1, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Health system members of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC), a leading healthcare improvement company, are testing, defining and scaling new strategies in a nationwide effort to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), up to half of patients treated in the U.S. receive unnecessary or inappropriate therapy, including multiple antibiotics when using just one antibiotic or no antibiotic would be the best approach. Sometimes in an effort to 'do whatever it takes' to fight a serious infection, clinicians use multiple antibiotics to treat the same infection. This, in part, has led to a worldwide increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In fact, 2 million people are infected with antibiotic-resistant organisms nationwide, resulting in approximately 23,000 deaths annually and excess healthcare costs as high as $20 billion per year.
A new data-driven performance improvement collaborative of 50 hospitals across 24 states is applying insights based on research Premier and the CDC published last year, which revealed the use of unnecessary and duplicative intravenous (IV) antibiotics, and pointed the inappropriate usage to 23 IV antibiotic combinations. From September 2015 to July 2016, participants in Premier's antibiotic stewardship collaborative will test, measure and track their efforts to reduce the inappropriate use of IV antibiotic combinations identified in the research by 20 percent, prioritizing improvement efforts on the combination with the most opportunity for reduction based on individual hospital data. They will also work to implement at least three of the CDC's core elements for antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs).
"Patient harm from hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) and adverse drug events, antibiotic resistance and excess costs can all be serious consequences of inappropriate antibiotic therapy," said Dayna McManus, PharmD, BCPS, infectious diseases clinical pharmacy specialist of Inova Fairfax Medical Center, an antibiotic stewardship collaborative participant. "In joining this effort, we will work with fellow Premier member hospitals to share data and define evidence-based practices, pinpoint opportunities for improvement and assess our progress in reducing antibiotic resistance."
The antibiotic stewardship collaborative supports the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria, which Premier committed to support, including its goals to establish:
- ASPs in all acute care hospitals by 2020; and
- Benchmarks to reduce antibiotic use by 50 percent in outpatient settings and 20 percent in inpatient settings by 2020.
"Recognizing the growing threat of infections and other microorganisms becoming resistant to antimicrobial agents, Premier and the CDC worked together to identify specific areas in care where potential antibiotic overuse is the highest," said Gina Pugliese, RN, MS, vice president of the Premier Safety Institute®. "These leading hospitals are leveraging this research to target and implement real-world change, as well as share lessons learned, metrics developed and best practices gleaned from the collaborative that will serve to broadly inform healthcare providers."
Antibiotic stewardship collaborative participation is exclusive to members of Premier's QUEST® quality improvement collaborative. All QUEST hospitals use industry-leading analytics powered by the PremierConnect® performance improvement platform, including PremierConnect Quality analytics to improve resource utilization and eliminate unjustified variation in care delivery. PremierConnect Safety clinical surveillance analytics help providers monitor and protect patients from infections, harmful drug interactions and other adverse events. These solutions help providers leverage timely and actionable data for rapid care interventions, and insights into trends to drive antibiotic stewardship techniques into patient safety practices. In addition, QUEST's social community in PremierConnect enables real-time member interactions.
More information on the Premier alliance's efforts to combat antibiotic-resistance can be found on the Premier Safety Institute website.
About Premier, Inc.
Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of approximately 3,600 U.S. hospitals and 120,000 other providers to transform healthcare. With integrated data and analytics, collaboratives, supply chain solutions, and advisory and other services, Premier enables better care and outcomes at a lower cost. Premier, a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient, plays a critical role in the rapidly evolving healthcare industry, collaborating with members to co-develop long-term innovations that reinvent and improve the way care is delivered to patients nationwide. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier is passionate about transforming American healthcare. Please visit Premier's news and investor sites on www.premierinc.com; as well as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Premier's blog for more information about the company.
CONTACT: Morgan Guthrie, Premier, Inc.; Morgan_Guthrie@PremierInc.com; 704.816.4152