CHARLOTTE, N.C. and SAN DIEGO, Oct. 26, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC), a leading healthcare improvement company, will extend their national learning collaborative to improve perioperative care for an additional two years.
In April 2014, ASA chose Premier to develop a learning collaborative to implement the ASA’s Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH). The PSH is a patient-centered, team-based practice model of coordinated care that guides patients through the entire surgical experience, from the decision to undergo surgery to discharge and beyond. Due to the success of the first collaborative, as well as growing momentum for value-based payment for surgical services through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Bundled Payment for Care Improvement (BPCI) initiative, Medicare Shared Savings Program and the new Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CCJR) requirement, the ASA and Premier will offer a second phase of the collaborative.
“The PSH Learning Collaborative brings together leading healthcare providers from across the country to define and test the PSH model,” said ASA President J.P. Abenstein, M.S.E.E., M.D. “Through active collaboration and shared learning, participants in the first phase demonstrated that the PSH is an innovative model of care with the potential to drive meaningful and lasting change in perioperative costs, outcomes and experiences for patients nationwide.”
In the first phase of the learning collaborative, 44 leading healthcare organizations from across the country came together to develop, pilot and evaluate the PSH model. Through the collaborative, Premier and ASA developed tools and resources to support the rapid implementation of the model in a variety of settings, including academic medical centers, community health systems, independent group practices and pediatric hospitals. In addition, the collaborative aimed to identify and promote innovative payment models to ensure that the PSH model is financially sustainable.
“Through our experience with a PSH at UC Irvine since October 2012, we now know it is a viable and beneficial model of care for our patients and we have the numbers to prove it,” said Zeev Kain, Chancellor’s professor and chair, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, associate dean for clinical operations, UC Irvine Health.
Since they implemented the PSH at UC Irvine for joint replacement surgeries, length of stay (LOS) was significantly lower in the second year, especially for hip patients whose LOS decreased by 28 percent. Additionally, for hip patients, the percentage of patients going home, rather than to a skilled nursing facility nearly doubled (17.6 percent to 32.9 percent) in the second year.
During the second iteration of the learning collaborative, ASA and Premier will continue to support member organizations as they redesign perioperative care to improve clinical outcomes, such as reducing complications and readmission rates, as well as costs. The ultimate goal is to identify evidence-based best practices and develop additional resources to implement the PSH model successfully, and drive performance improvement among those that have already done so.
“The PSH model could lead to lasting improvements in costs, outcomes and experiences for patients, payers and providers across the country,” said Wes Champion, senior vice president of Premier Performance Partners. “All providers, including physicians and post-acute care facilities must work together to truly deliver high-value care from the moment the need for surgery is determined, throughout their recovery. We are excited to work with the ASA and participating organizations on the next phase of this innovative initiative.”
National recruitment for the second phase of the collaborative has begun. Healthcare organizations interested in participating in the next round of the PSH Learning Collaborative are invited to contact Ashley Perry (ashley_perry@premierinc.com) for additional information.
The second contract between Premier and ASA will run from October 2015 through March 2018.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists
Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) is an educational, research and scientific society with more than 52,000 members organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology. ASA is committed to ensuring physician anesthesiologists evaluate and supervise the medical care of patients before, during and after surgery to provide the highest quality and safest care every patient deserves.
For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists online at asahq.org. To learn more about the role physician anesthesiologists play in ensuring patient safety, visit asahq.org/WhenSecondsCount.
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; Theresa Hill; ASA; (847) 268-9246; (773) 330-5273; t.hill@asahq.org