Media Contact: Brian Mulligan
516-465-2600
bmulliga@nshs.edu

GREAT NECK, NY -- North Shore-LIJ Health System is participating with other top US healthcare systems from across the country in a first-of-its-kind collaborative launched by the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice (TDI). The collaborative is designed to get hospitals to focus on the high cost of medical care and surgical procedures, and to develop practice care and payment models aimed at enhancing patient safety and reducing costs. North Shore-LIJ is the only health system in New York State participating in the initiative.

“We are setting an agenda to tackle nine of the most common and high-dollar procedures, and implement changes in practice over the next five years,” said Lawrence Smith, MD, dean and physician-in-chief for the North Shore-LIJ Health System. “It is the first program of its kind designed to improve healthcare, lower costs and create a more unified healthcare platform across the country.”

In addition to North Shore-LIJ, the other top health systems participating in the collaborative are: Mayo Clinic, Denver Health, Intermountain Healthcare, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Cleveland Clinic, Baylor Health Care System, Beaumont Hospitals, MaineHealth, Scott & White Health Care, Sutter Health, UCLA Health System, University of Iowa Health Care and the Virginia Mason Medical Center.

The health systems will be asked to share data on patient care, costs and outcomes, so that the information can be analyzed and programs implemented to meet the goals of the collaboration: to enhance patient care and reduce costs. The nine common condition/disease-specific areas that will be targeted include: total knee replacement, diabetes, asthma, hip surgery, heart failure, perinatal care, depression, spine surgery and weight-loss surgery.

“All of the procedures/diseases targeted have a wide variation in practice, rates, costs and outcomes,” explained Jeremy Boal, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer for North Shore-LIJ. “The first pilot project will center on total knee replacement. We are looking to roll out the collaborative program in the spring. At that time, TDI members are expected to present an overview of the collaboration, introduce the executive committee, outline the operating model and how the health systems will share the information needed to assess care and cost models.”

North Shore-LIJ’s partnership with TDI is one of several key national affiliations the health system has undertaken to improve health care quality and cost reduction that include: a strategic partnership with Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to prevent sepsis and improve end-of-life care, several Joint Commission projects (improving hand hygiene, reducing surgical site infections, improving hand-off communication and preventing avoidable heart failure hospitalizations) and the IHI’s 5 Million Lives Campaign.