So what does reducing waste in healthcare mean? Healthcare waste is defined as time, dollars, and services that do not add value - and can sometimes harm the patient. What it means is achieving the nirvana of triple aim – better care, better health, and lower cost.
Despite efforts to control healthcare spending in the United States, costs continue to soar. To combat healthcare costs on the rise, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) developed a Leadership Alliance Waste workgroup. This group is made up of 54 healthcare organizations working together to develop a strategy to reduce waste in healthcare by 50% over the next five years.1 In this blog, we are taking a look at some of their most successful concepts and aligning them with innovative, executable strategies.