Goodroe Healthcare Solutions, a firm that helps hospitals improve clinical quality and economic performance, announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has approved two additional gainsharing projects, bringing the total approvals to 10. This includes the first approval for an anesthesiology project.
Gainsharing allows hospitals to share cost savings with physicians who achieve operational efficiencies. To date, the approved arrangements have saved millions of dollars, while assuring the best quality of care for patients.
“This OIG decision demonstrates that the government believes our gainsharing methodology protects patients and provides a clear way to help hospitals reduce costs and maintain quality,” said Joane Goodroe, founder of Goodroe Healthcare Solutions and senior vice president at VHA Inc.
Currently, Goodroe’s gainsharing model is used in areas where physicians control the majority of costs, such as cardiac catheterization procedures, open heart surgery, as well as orthopedic and spine procedures. The arrangements vary according to individual hospitals, but most allow physicians to be paid as much as 50 percent of the savings generated through the hospitals and physicians working more collaboratively to decrease overall costs, while demonstrating quality outcomes.
Goodroe’s model is based on information gained through its proprietary data tools, which capture information as hospitals are providing patient care. The systems measure costs and identify opportunities to eliminate waste, and use nationally accepted benchmarks and standards to assure that quality patient care is not compromised.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) are exploring additional models of gainsharing, and released solicitations for two gainsharing demonstration projects, DRA 5007 Medicare Hospital Gainsharing Demonstration and Physician-Hospital Collaboration Demonstration. These projects cover comprehensive opportunities for gainsharing beyond the current model approved by the OIG, which are typically limited to work in procedure areas.
About Goodroe Healthcare Solutions, LLC – Goodroe Healthcare Solutions, a VHA Inc. company, (www.goodroe.com) is an Atlanta-based firm that concentrates on helping hospitals reduce costs and improve quality in specialty surgical areas. Goodroe’s clinical consultants work with hospitals to analyze their care processes and find ways to make hospitals more efficient while improving effectiveness. Goodroe focuses on cardiology, orthopedic medicine and neurosurgical procedures, such as insertion of spinal implants. These important specialty services generate 60 to 80 percent of supply costs for many large hospitals, as well as considerable revenues, so controlling costs associated with these procedures can help hospitals improve their financial health and assure that resources are available to fund other patient care activities. Goodroe has helped more than 300 hospitals nationwide implement quality improvement and cost savings initiatives.