Early mobility has long been documented to speed recovery, ease pain and decrease chances of complications, such as blood clots and infections, explains Pelt.But until recently, this standard of care wasn't uniformly applied at the U. — not because providers willfully ignored it, but because they didn't know they were wavering from it.A new data tool developed by the U. is helping doctors and surgical teams visualize when they stray from protocols by shining a light on the costs racked up by their patients. It's sparking conversations about how to deliver better care more efficiently.And though it's less than a year old, it's making a measurable difference, said Vivian Lee, senior vice president at University of Utah Health Sciences. Over just six months in 2013, provider teams brainstormed more than 500 strategies to streamline care, projected to save $7.1 million annually.
"There's been a lot of press lately about charges, the price tag we stick on our services," said Lee, referring to articles such as "Bitter Pill," Time magazine's exposé on hospital markups, such as charging $25 for a Tylenol pill."But the bill is just a made-up number. The true problem in health care is we don't understand our costs," said Lee. "If you don't know your costs, you can't drive down health spending in this country."If you're in the business of building airplanes, chances are you've heard of Wetmore Tool and Engineering.
The manufacturing company specializes in suppling high speed steel and carbide rotary cutting tools to air frame assembly, fluid power, automotive production and general machining industries."Eighty percent of the tools we make are made directly to our customer order and we make that exact tool and send it to them," said Phil Kurtz, president of the Chino-based manufacturer."And your customer is going to use that drill bit the same way you make it, one at a time."The company has been in the quality cutting tool industry since 1956, offering products like carbide tipped rivet shavers, speciality reamers, threaded shank adapter drills, quick-change adapter drills, core drills, double-margin step drills, nutplate drills and special application drills and reamers.