The Impact of Continuous Quality Improvement on a System's Healthcare Costs.

In this month’s edition of Pediatrics, Lion et al1 share with us their research on improving inpatient care through the adoption of a wide array of “clinical standard work” products. Overall, this research has led to system-wide decreased lengths of stay as well as decreased costs per hospitalization. At the same time, readmission rates have not increased, and the investigators show that patient-reported quality of life remains the same. This outcome is important because most other quality improvement projects address only a single process at a time. Their results thus show the benefit of system-wide quality improvement methods. Many of us have been waiting to see such evidence regarding the value of quality improvement as delivered through an electronic medical record system.