Data show ROI with standardized age-friendly delirium care

A report from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) makes the business case for investing in an age-friendly health system. The age-friendly movement encourages hospitals to standardize the use of best practices in caring for geriatric patients to ensure more consistent high-quality care. The report details the case of Hartford (Ct.) Hospital, which standardized its approach to screening for, treating and managing delirium. The hospital’s costs for delirium care were $96 million in one year alone prior to the intervention. Using a calculator developed by IHI, the hospital was able to estimate the financial return on investment (ROI) of introducing the delirium protocol, which produced shorter stays and fewer readmissions. IHI launched the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative in 2016 with the John A. Hartford Foundation, the American Hospital Association and the Catholic Health Association of the United States. (Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare story, 8/29/19)