Hospital Acquired Infections and Hospitals Acquired by Private Equity: The Dangerous Correlation

by Erica Mitchell | January 8 2024

About a quarter of American hospitals are for-profit, that is, they are operated to generate profit for owners and stakeholders. A subsection of those hospitals, about 3%, have been acquired through private equity (PE) buyouts, whereby a PE firm raises funds to purchase a hospital. These PE transactions, also called "takeovers," are characteristically funded through leveraged debt - the firm takes out a loan secured by the purchased entity (the hospital), adding the burden of that debt to the balance sheet (and monthly expenses) of that facility. As a result, hospitals acquired by PE firms face additional pressures; they are operated not only to generate profit but also must repay large amounts of debt, used to fund the acquisition and now added to their balance sheet. A recent study looked into this subsection of hospitals to see how this added financial pressure impacted patient outcomes. The results? Patients are 25% more likely to be harmed by medical care at a private-equity acquired facility.

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Making the Case for Healthcare Innovation, Part 3: The Business Case

by Erica Mitchell | December 4 2023

After you make the case for the healthcare innovation in terms of patient and facility benefits, anticipating possible risks, and demonstrating efficacy, the final step is to put all that data into financial terms. To calculate return on investment, you will need to determine, to the best degree possible, the costs of implementation, the potential costs of not implementing, and make connections to the facility and/or system plan for the future. In today's post, we will guide you to resources to help you accomplish these tasks.

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6 Reasons Why C. diff is a Menace

by Erica Mitchell | November 8 2023

There are 6 reasons why Clostridioides difficile is such a menace. Each one of these aspects makes C. diff infections, or CDIs, a force to be reckoned with. All six make it one of the greatest threats in hospital infection control.

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How To Make the Case for a Healthcare Innovation

by Erica Mitchell | October 30 2023

Every successful organization, from a small grassroots group to a global corporation, has a way for ideas to percolate through the system and find their way to the top decision-makers. Human ingenuity can come from anywhere, including cost-saving ideas (the matchbox), ways to attract new demographics (Flamin' Hot Cheetos), retain current customers (Starbucks), and of course, launch completely new products (PlayStation). From our last post, we know that hospitals and healthcare systems allocate their budgets in advance, with limited protocols for integrating innovations. How can the individual with an idea get that innovation in front of the right people at the right time, and of course, in the right way? In today's post, we'll explore one method to get you there.

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How Do Hospitals Spend Money? An Introduction

by Erica Mitchell | October 23 2023

Hospital finances are a complex process, involving all the parts of a service provider, a retail business, an investment venture, and a non-profit organization. Investment in medical innovations require buy-in from anyone (and everyone) from physicians and nurses all the way to the CFO and CEO. In today's post, we will introduce a series on the topic of how hospitals budget and spend money, and how an individual employee can use that information in order to bring an innovative idea to the right person at the right time. 

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Infection Control Innovations: Making the Value Proposition that Survives Cost-Cutting

by Erica Mitchell | September 3 2023

The perceived stability of the national economy impacts the willingness of the healthcare industry to invest in innovations with up-front costs. In times of relative economic stability, healthcare systems may be more willing and able to make up-front investments with returns that pay off in the short- and long-term. During times of more economic instability, healthcare systems may opt to pass on these same innovations in their efforts to cut immediate costs. What can make the difference? Quality data at sufficient quantity can mitigate risk-aversion during times of instability. In today's post, we will explore how to make the value proposition for infection control innovations even during times of economic volatility.


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How Can a Healthcare Investment Increase Market Share AND Reduce Cost of Care? Focus on Infection Prevention.

by Erica Mitchell | May 15 2023

Large-scale healthcare projects, from new projects to renovations, face a challenging future. After the tedious process of securing permits and getting approved plans and even issuing press releases, many of these ambitious projects stall due to financial pressures. Increasingly, healthcare systems may hit the pause button as they take a closer look at cost-benefits, with emphases on expanding market share and reducing cost of care. In today's post, we will look at how a healthcare project can help achieve both goals by focusing on proven infection prevention infrastructure.

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Infection Control and the Healthcare Supply Chain: Who Makes Decisions?

by Erica Mitchell | April 24 2023

Last week we provided a big-picture overview of the healthcare supply chain, from supplier to patient. This week, we will dig deeper into this process and try to identify places along the supply chain where decisions can impact infection control and prevention. While all hospitals must meet EPA- and FDA-mandated standards for cleanliness and device protocols, there is room for individual choices in how each facility will prepare and respond to pathogens. So where along supply chain are decisions made that influence infection control?

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What is The Chargemaster?

by Erica Mitchell | October 20 2021

To provide better transparency, hospitals across the nation have publicly posted their prices. The idea was to help consumers make better financial choices about their healthcare and motivate hospitals to make prices more competitive. But as hospitals roll out their price lists, what consumers are accessing is not a neat menu of options, but rather a door to a complex, changing world of codes, acronyms, and abbreviations known as The Chargemaster.

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Measuring the Cost-Effectiveness of an HAI Reduction Intervention: Effectiveness

by Erica Mitchell | October 13 2021

Measuring the cost-effectiveness of an infection prevention intervention requires careful translation of complex issues into dollar values: The problems, the possible solutions, the methods of evaluation, and the desired outcomes. The result is a calculation that measures whether or not the costs associated with an intervention are outweighed by the benefits gained by that intervention. Today we will delve into the big ideas behind that final calculation.

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