iStock_000004391035SmallA hospital in Connecticut recently reported a drastic drop in both claims made and settlements paid after a safety training regime aided by the hospital’s med-mal insurer.

In 2004, the hospital joined with its med-mal insurer in an effort to increase patient safety and in turn decrease claims made and amounts paid.

Here’s what they did:

–          standardized care,

–          implemented new teamwork protocols, and

–          enhanced oversight of clinical work.

These efforts were in place for five years and compared to the prior five.  The results are astounding.

Forty-four claims were filed during the 10-year study period.

Annual cases per 1000 deliveries decreased significantly over the study period.

Claims (30 vs 14) and payments ($50.7 million vs $2.9 million) decreased in the 5-years after the program’s inception.

Compared with before program inception, median annual claims dropped from 1.31 to 0.64 and median annual payments per 1000 deliveries decreased from $1,141,638 to $63,470.