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Physicians Leading Physicians: A Physician Engagement Intervention Decreases Inappropriate Use of IICU Level of Care Accommodations.

Ruiz Colón G, Yang J, Svec D, Heidenreich P, Britt P, Smith M, Sharp C, Shieh L. Physicians Leading Physicians: A Physician Engagement Intervention Decreases Inappropriate Use of IICU Level of Care Accommodations. American journal of medical quality : the official journal of the American College of Medical Quality. 2021 Nov 1; 36(6):387-394.

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Abstract:

Following the adoption of an acuity-adaptable unit model in an academic medical center, a $13M increase in cost of intermediate intensive care unit (IICU) accommodations was observed. The authors followed A3 methodology to determine the root cause of this increase and developed a 3-prong intervention centered on physician engagement, given that physicians have the ability to order a patient''s level of care. This intervention consisted of: (1) identifying physician champions to promote appropriate IICU use, (2) visual changes to essential electronic medical record tools, and (3) data-driven feedback to physician champions. In the year following intervention deployment, average IICU length of stay decreased from 1.08 to 0.62 days and average IICU use decreased from 21.4% to 12.3%, corresponding to ~$5.7M cost savings with no significant change in balancing measures observed. Together, these results demonstrate that a multicomponent intervention aimed at engaging physicians reduced inappropriate IICU use with no increase in adverse events.





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