Rockburn Study Shows Hospitals Using Lippincott Procedures Have Higher Value-based Purchasing Scores

23% Improvement in Clinical Process of Care Leads to 9% Improvement in Patient Outcomes

Rockburn Institute, a leading health research and consulting organization, recently announced results from a study that finds U.S. hospitals using Lippincott Procedures performed 9% better in regards to the CMS Value-based Purchasing (VBP) Outcomes score and 23% better in the Clinical Process of Care score, with an overall 12% improvement in the VBP Total Performance Score. The study was commissioned by Wolters Kluwer, a leading global provider of information and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry.

According to the study, which compared the entire database of entities participating in the CMS VBP program, hospitals using Lippincott Procedures had a median VBP percent rank score of 57.49 vs. non-users score of 49.19. The average weighted percent rank VBP Total Performance Score compared Lippincott Procedures customers at 55.62, while non-customers had a score of 49.39. The study compared each domain score within the VBP process, as well. The Clinical Process of Care score (60.43 for users vs. 48.94) and the Outcomes score (54.20 vs. 49.57) showed Lippincott Procedures customers to be at an advantage.

In the article published today on the Rockburn Institute website, Dale N. Schumacher, M.D., President, Rockburn Institute and lead author of the study, relates these findings to recent studies documenting that enhancing nursing practice and clinical process improves hospital performance and patient outcomes.

“In a health care system that values effectiveness and efficiency, nurses are being increasingly recognized as a main foundation for outcomes improvement, and the evidence shows that it is critical that these clinicians have ready access to evidence-based practice information,” said Dr. Schumacher. “Once we saw that the clinical process of care score was 23% higher for hospitals using Lippincott Procedures, we expected that the results within the Outcomes measure would also be higher. The 9.26% positive difference between Procedures users and non-Procedures users documents this association.”

Created by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the hospital VBP program impacts more than 3,000 U.S. hospitals, and rewards higher performing acute-care facilities with incentive payments for the quality of care they provide to patients with Medicare. The VBP program also penalizes underperforming hospitals. Because hospitals compete with each other it is beneficial to score in the higher percentiles compared with other hospitals so to achieve a reward and avoid a financial penalty.

The study also compared designated hospitals from the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program® published on the ANCC website and then reviewed the 21 hospitals that were both using Lippincott Procedures and were designated Magnet. Even though Rockburn did not draw definitive conclusions as to the interactions that occur because of the small sample size, Dr. Schumacher still noted the directional analysis between the results of the two programs.

“Interestingly and anecdotally, the hospitals that were both Procedures and Magnet hospitals had an average weighted Patient Outcomes rank of 71.50; in other words, they were among the top 28.5% of U.S. hospitals, a very high average performance,” continued Dr. Schumacher, who learned how the products are being used by health systems while performing the study. “I am pleasantly surprised by how easy it is for clinicians to use Lippincott Solutions at the bedside to gain access to synthesized evidence-based answers to their clinical and procedural questions.”

Lippincott Solutions is a series of comprehensive, integrated software applications that includes advanced online workflow technology, current evidence-based clinical information, and professional development tools for the practicing nurse and associated clinicians. Solutions in the product suite include Lippincott Procedures, Lippincott Advisor and Lippincott Professional Development.

Dr. Schumacher’s article explaining the study appears on the Rockburn Institute website. In addition, a whitepaper on the findings is available for free download by visiting RockburnVBP.com. For more information, visit www.lippincottsolutions.com.

About Rockburn Institute
The Rockburn Institute is a health services research, education and consulting group established in 1978 initially by faculty and staff of The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Early studies concentrated on state databases, case mix, case mix severity measures, measuring the impact of peer review, and the cost of graduate medical education programs. The Institute’s study for the National Association of Private Psychiatric Hospitals measuring the impact of prospective payment on psychiatric hospitals was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and altered the federal government approach to hospital payment.

Rockburn is led by Dr. Dale N. Schumacher, M.D., MPH, and President. Dr. Schumacher has 25 years of healthcare system governance experience. He chaired the Mercy Health Care System Board (Scranton), and was a member of the Kaleida Health Board and the Catholic Healthcare Partners Board (Cincinnati). From 2003 to 2013 he has served Long Island Health Network as a consultant and as the external Chief Quality Officer. For the past decade he has supported Crozer Keystone Health System as its consulting Clinical Informatics Officer.

About Wolters Kluwer Health
Wolters Kluwer Health is a leading global provider of information, business intelligence and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry. Serving more than 150 countries worldwide, clinicians rely on Wolters Kluwer Health’s market leading information-enabled tools and software solutions throughout their professional careers from training to research to practice. Major brands include Health Language,Lexicomp, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Medicom, Medi-Span, Medknow, Ovid, Pharmacy OneSource, ProVation Medical and UpToDate.

Wolters Kluwer Health is part of Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company. Wolters Kluwer had 2013 annual revenues of €3.6B ($4.7B), employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide, and maintains operations in over 40 countries across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Its shares are quoted on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. Wolters Kluwer has a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt program. The ADRs are traded on the over-the-counter market in the U.S. (WTKWY).