Surgical standards help hospitals improve safety and save money, study finds

The American College of Surgeons has outlined standards for hospitals that are designed to raise the quality of care, and the program is yielding benefits, a new study shows.

Hospitals following standards from the American College of Surgeons saw better outcomes and saved money, a new study finds.

Researchers found that hospitals employing the standards enjoyed better outcomes, improved safety and managed to save money.

In fact, hospitals adhering to the quality standards saved more than $1,700 per admission and patients were discharged sooner, according to a study published this week in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

The American College of Surgeons offers its Quality Verification Program, which is intended to help hospitals measure and improve their performance.

The standards include a leadership commitment to ensure safe surgeries and developing a safety culture. In addition, the program calls for standard processes to identify potential safety issues, standards to review cases and monitor adverse events, and a process to review quality and safety issues with surgeons.

Xane D. Peters, MD, an ACS Clinical Scholar in Residence and co-lead author of the study, said in a news release that the program offers benefits across different specialties.

“By adopting these evidence-based standards, hospitals can systematically address and prevent issues, ensuring a higher standard of care for all surgical patients,” Peters said in a statement.

Hospitals that followed the quality standards found that patients were able to be discharged earlier. The average stay for those hospitals dropped by an average of 1.9 days, according to the study.

For each admission, hospitals that followed the standards saw costs drop by an average of $1,763.

Hospitals complying with accreditation programs and regulatory standards saw an 18% reduction in surgical site infections.

In addition, providers utilizing disease-based management programs saw reduced mortality in patients with native valve endocarditis, falling from 25% to 13%. Mortality rates for patients with prosthetic valve endocarditis plunged from 53% to 23%.

In the study, researchers examined 150 studies to assess outcomes. Even with a variety of providers, hospitals reported shorter patient stays, fewer complications and reduced costs, the authors wrote.

The American College of Surgeons said the study is the third and final installment of an analysis of its Quality Verification Program.

Hospitals participating in the program receive reports with recommendations that reflect their specific needs and identify ways to improve. The reports focus on safety and quality for preoperative care, surgical procedures and after discharge.

James W. Fleshman Jr., MD, a member of the ACS Board of Regents and chairman of the department of surgery at Baylor University Medical Center, touted the merits of the program for hospitals.

"It helps you build the culture, structures, and processes that lead to real and sustainable improvement,” he said in the release. “Hospitals want to deliver optimal care for their patients but, for any number of reasons, we can fall short. By implementing QVP, it gives us more opportunity to deliver high-quality surgical care for every patient, every time.”