Where population health misses the mark: breaking the 80/20 rule.

Conventional population management theory, predicated on prevention and keeping the healthy majority healthy, fails to address the root cause of the unsustainable health care spending trajectory in the United States. The national health care agenda has been heavily influenced by the assumptions that disease prevention and the general promotion of "population health" will be sufficient to reduce health care spending to a sustainable level. However, a very small subset of the population with chronic and complex conditions account for a disproportionate share of health care spending, and unnecessary variation in the care of those chronic and complex episodes wastes 20% to 30% of the episodic spending. Health care spending follows what is known as "the 80/20 rule," with 80% of all spending being incurred by only 20% of the population. Whether a population is defined as a company, a county, or a country, the overwhelming majority of their health care spending comes from a small minority of the individuals, and the bulk of that spending is associated with either largely unavoidable and unpredictable single events or complex episodes of care. Achieving an economically sustainable health care system will require more efficient and effective delivery of those complex episodes of care.

Challenges of becoming a regional referral system: the University of Kentucky as a case study.

The U.S. health care system must change because of unsustainable costs and limited access to care. Health care legislation and the recognition that health care costs must be curbed have accelerated the change process. How should academic medical centers (AMCs) respond? Teaching hospitals are a heterogeneous group, and the leaders of each must understand their institution's goals and the necessary resources to achieve them. Clinical leaders and staff at one AMC, the University of Kentucky (UK), committed to transforming the AMC into a regional referral center. To achieve this goal, UK leaders integrated the clinical enterprise, focused recruitment on advanced subspecialists, and initiated productive relationships with other providers. Attracting adequate numbers of destination patients with complex illnesses required UK to have a "market space" of five to seven million people. The resources required to effect such progress have been daunting. Relationships with providers and payers have been necessary to forge a network. These relationships have been challenging to establish and manage and have evolved over time. Most AMCs are not-for-profit public good entities that nevertheless exist in an industry driven by competition in quality and cost, and therefore scale and access to capital are paramount. AMC leaders must understand their institutions as both part of an industry and as a public good in order to adapt to the changing health care system. Although the experience of any particular AMC is inherently unique, UK's journey provides a useful case study in establishing institutional goals, outlining a strategy, and identifying required resources.

The evolution of a Department of Internal Medicine under an integrated clinical enterprise model: the University of Kentucky experience.

The impact on the Department of Internal Medicine of the emergence of the University of Kentucky Healthcare Enterprise as an integrated clinical model has been enormous. In fiscal year 2004, the department was financially insolvent and on the verge of implementing plans to decrease faculty from 127 to 65. Since that time, the department has changed dramatically with a corresponding improvement in its clinical, academic, and financial activity. The department has grown to 175 faculty, with a healthy financial outlook and a shared vision with the clinical enterprise. Departmental clinical growth has been accompanied by growth in extramural research funding. The clinical growth of the department, in turn, supported the growth of the integrated clinical enterprise overall.The purpose of this article is to present a case history of the impact of transition to an integrated clinical enterprise financial model on the clinical, research, and educational functions of a department of internal medicine, and the opportunities and lessons learned from this transition. The implementation of an enterprise model allowed revival and expansion of the clinical programs of the department. This expansion did not occur at the expense of the research and educational missions of the department but, rather, was associated with improved performance in these areas. The processes which were established during the conversion to the enterprise model, which involve strategic planning, monitoring of plan implementation, recalibration of objectives, financial transparency, and accountability of leadership and faculty, may better prepare the institution to face the challenges of the rapidly changing economic environment.

An institutional process to improve inpatient glycemic control.

Many institutions are evaluating their inpatient patterns of care for patients with diabetes mellitus and hyperglycemia, based upon compelling evidence that strict glycemic control improves outcomes in a variety of hospital settings. In 2005, a multidisciplinary task force was established at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, to guide a process to improve the quality and safety of inpatients with hyperglycemia. This article describes the stepwise process including an examination of our procedures, adoption of standards, and establishment of common protocols and procedures. Successful implementation of the protocols was preceded by extensive educational efforts. Refinement of the protocols based on early experience and feedback from staff has resulted in improvements in glycemic parameters and less reliance on sliding scale insulin regimens.

Is antibiotic prophylaxis for bacterial endocarditis cost-effective?

BACKGROUND: Antibiotic prophylaxis for bacterial endocarditis is recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA) before undergoing certain dental procedures. Whether such antibiotic prophylaxis is cost-effective is not clear. The authors' objective is to estimate the cost-effectiveness of predental antibiotic prophylaxis in patients with underlying heart disease. METHODS: The authors conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis using a Markov model to compare cost-effectiveness of 7 antibiotic regimens per AHA guidelines and a no prophylaxis strategy. The study population consisted of a hypothetical cohort of 10 million patients with either a high or moderate risk for developing endocarditis. RESULTS: Prophylaxis for patients with moderate or high risk for endocarditis cost $88,007/quality-adjusted life years saved if clarithromycin was used. Prophylaxis with amoxicillin and ampicillin resulted in a net loss of lives. All other regimens were less cost-effective than clarithromycin. For 10 million persons, clarithromycin prophylaxis prevented 119 endocarditis cases and saved 19 lives. CONCLUSION: Predental antibiotic prophylaxis is cost-effective only for persons with moderate or high risk of developing endocarditis. Contrary to current recommendations, our data demonstrate that amoxicillin and ampicillin are not cost-effective and should not be considered the agents of choice. Clarithromycin should be considered the drug of choice and cephalexin as an alternative drug of choice. The current published guidelines and recommendations should be revised.