Three Suppliers Selected to Participate in Premier Healthcare Alliance Comparative Effectiveness Research Program

‐

Effort will analyze solutions in care settings; aims to inform providers and patients about safe, cost-effective treatments for certain clinical conditions.

Charlotte, North Carolina, December 2010—In an effort to inform the provider community and general public about which interventions drive improved outcomes and cost-savings, the Premier healthcare alliance has launched the QUEST® Comparative Effectiveness & Innovation Program (QCEIP).

Baxter International Inc.; Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc.; and Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics have been selected to participate in QCEIP, a voluntary program that will test products and clinical interventions in real-world settings at Premier alliance hospitals. QCEIP will work to generate objective results to help the provider community better understand the patient outcomes associated with the use of certain products.

Health reform established the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to prioritize and fund comparative effectiveness research (CER). The aim of CER – and QCEIP – is to improve health outcomes by developing and disseminating evidence-based information about the effectiveness of treatments relative to other options.

QCEIP will leverage Premier Research Services’ (PRS) research expertise and data from the nation’s most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information to test, validate and substantiate the concepts submitted by the suppliers. PRS and Premier data have been featured in more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles.

Selection, Review Process
All healthcare suppliers nationwide were eligible to join QCEIP, regardless of whether the company has a supply contract with Premier. Supplier applications were reviewed by a multi-disciplinary team consisting of hospital representatives from Premier’s QUEST: High Performing Hospitals collaborative, Premier’s Center for Evidence-Based Pharmacy Practice and PRS.

According to Bill Zeruld, vice president of PRS, “Concepts were selected based on the ability to provide the greatest return on investment to QUEST hospitals, the manufacturer and the industry as a whole. This program brings healthcare stakeholders together, setting the standard for manufacturers to partner with leading hospitals to help drive quality and efficiency improvements.”

In selecting the products to be evaluated, each applicant’s “change concept” was reviewed using the following criteria:

  • Importance of change concept to hospitals;
  • Importance of change concept to improving healthcare; and
  • Feasibility – Premier’s ability to complete the study leveraging our current data sources.

“QUEST hospitals set a goal of enhancing the quality and efficiency of care and to set new standards for the nation. We’re doing just that,” said Peggy Orr, RN, clinical resource specialist at the Summa Health System in Akron, Ohio. “This project presents a new approach to introducing and connecting innovative supplier concepts to our nations’ hospitals to help us reach our goals.”

The program will consist of the following:

  • Conducting a study that will correlate health outcomes to product performance using Premier’s secondary data sources;
  • Creating an abstract for publication based on the results of the secondary data analysis; and
  • After clearing the peer review process, using a variety of communications channels to inform the Premier alliance and broader healthcare community of the study results.

About QUEST
QUEST is a voluntary, three-year project that includes urban/rural, large/small and teaching/non-teaching facilities from 34 states, including many safety net hospitals. Using the nation’s largest comparative database from Premier, QUEST participants and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) identified the main drivers that lead to deaths, errors, improved patient experience and excessive costs. Hospitals in QUEST are specifically targeting improvement opportunities in these areas, comparing themselves against each other, carefully measuring progress and sharing best practices to significantly improve outcomes. Results from the first two years of the project show that participants have saved an estimated total of 22,164 lives and $2.13 billion.

QCEIP Suppliers
Baxter International Inc.
The primary objective of this study is to compare the safety and efficiency in critically ill patients who are receiving parenteral nutrition (PN) via a multi-chamber bag (CLINIMIX®) to those receiving PN with compounded solutions or patients receiving enteral nutrition. CLINIMIX sulfite-free (Amino Acid in Dextrose) injections are sterile solutions available in multi-chamber bags for central and peripheral PN.

“As an industry leader in parenteral nutrition, we are honored to be selected for inclusion in Premier’s innovative research initiative,” said David Bonderud, president of the U.S. region of Baxter’s medication delivery business. “We strongly support the program as we share the mutual goal of improving the quality and safety of parenteral nutrition practice in the U.S.”

Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc.
Ultrasound contrast agents in the U.S. (including DEFINITY®, Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc., North Billerica, MA) are indicated for use in patients with suboptimal echocardiograms to opacify the left ventricular chamber and to improve the delineation of the left ventricular endocardial borders. The study will compare the diagnostic and treatment efficiency and resource utilization in critically ill patients who have undergone transthoracic echocardiography with versus without DEFINITY® contrast.

“This QUEST Comparative Effectiveness & Innovation Program study tests the hypothesis that the appropriate use of DEFINITY® contrast echocardiography in critically ill patients can reduce the need for additional testing and hospital resources while maintaining the highest standards of healthcare, when compared with non-contrast echocardiography,” said Mark G. Hibberd, M.D., Ph.D., senior medical director, Medical Affairs and Pharmacovigilance, Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc. “We believe that DEFINITY® is an important diagnostic imaging tool that may help intensivists and hospital physicians make informed, immediate, point of care decisions. We look forward to working with Premier to provide objective results that may provide the Premier alliance and other hospitals with valuable information to improve healthcare.”

Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics
Physicians in the emergency department (ED) rely on cardiac biomarkers to quickly and accurately diagnose and treat patients with chest pain or acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The quicker the biomarker results can be returned to the physician, the faster the diagnosis and treatment decision can be made to optimize outcomes for patients. Hospitals can reduce costs by rapidly identifying patients with a non-cardiac diagnosis, potentially saving thousands of dollars on unnecessary tests and treatment. The primary objective of this study is to compare clinical and financial outcomes of hospitals utilizing the Siemens Stratus® CS Acute Care™ Diagnostic System for rapid identification of ACS in the ED compared with hospitals not using this system.
“We are pleased to partner with Premier on this important initiative to help hospitals advance care and operations in cardiovascular disease,” says Michael Reitermann, CEO, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics. “We are committed to providing clinicians with the critical information they need to make the best decisions around diagnosis and treatment for patients.”

About the Premier Healthcare Alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Recipient
Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,400 U.S. hospitals and 70,000-plus other healthcare sites using the power of collaboration to lead the transformation to high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by hospitals, health systems and other providers, Premier maintains the nation’s most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom’s National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has offices in San Diego, Philadelphia and Washington. http://www.premierinc.com. Stay connected with Premier on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.