White Paper
Using the Rothman Index in Support of Organizational Sepsis Initiatives
Summary
Sepsis is a leading cause of hospital mortality and major patient safety priority. Although early identification of septic patients is critical to improving outcomes, identifying sepsis is notoriously difficult. Existing tools, from simple SIRS checklists to sophisticated EMR-based algorithms are not up to the task, as they tend to suffer from impractically high numbers of false positives. PeraHealth takes a different approach – focusing on the patient rather than the disease. Healthcare systems that have implemented clinical care redesign initiatives that include leveraging PeraTrend as part of the clinical workflow have impacted quality metrics. Houston Methodist Hospital has been able to decrease sepsis mortality by 11% despite already having an aggressive sepsis-screening program in place.
Similarly, the deployment of a care delivery model that includes use of PeraTrend at Yale New Haven’s Bridgeport Hospital has also had extremely positive results. Since launching their care redesign, Bridgeport Hospital achieved a 29% reduction in sepsis mortality and a 13% reduction in sepsis care costs, saving dozens of lives, and millions of dollars annually.
Authors: PeraHealth, Inc.
Clinical care redesigns that included using PeraTrend helped Yale New Haven Health’s Bridgeport Hospital to reduce sepsis-related mortality by 29% and Houston Methodist Hospital to achieve an 11% reduction in sepsis mortality.
The significance of early identification and treatment cannot be overstated – one study reports that each hour of delay decreases likelihood of survival by 7.6%.