Abstract TP397: Cost Analysis of Implementing Standardized Stroke Patient Education Materials in a Large Five State Health System

Abstract

Background: Providing stroke patient education is a national quality core measure and required by all certified stroke programs. Stroke patient education booklets (SPEBs) can be developed by stroke programs or purchased from an external organization (EO). Certifying bodies require specific stroke education content, however organizations can decide on the development and maintenance of the material. The cost of production, maintenance and purchase in a large five state health system was found to be highly variable prompting an 18 month collaboration to standardize SPEBs across the health system. Purpose: Analyze SPEB cost for both before and after implementation of a standardized SPEB for a large five state health system. Methods: Stroke program coordinators/champions responsible for developing, maintaining, and ordering SPEBs for 18 facilities were surveyed as to cost and time spent managing SPEBs per year before and after SPEB implementation. Outliers were excluded. Results: Surveys were sent to 18 stroke program coordinators/champions representing 18 facilities with responses received from 17 facilities (94.4% response rate). Facilities reported time spent producing or managing the SPEBs ranged from 2 to 60 hours, averaging 27 hours per year. The anticipated time that will be spent producing or managing SPEBs after standardization was between 0 and 32 hours with an average of 8.86 hours per year. Cost of production for the pre standardization SPEB ranged from $.73 to $15.00 per SPEB with an average of $5.18. The cost of post standardization SPEB production was lower for all facilities and ranged from $0.38-$14.62, with an average savings of $4.80 per SPEB. Conclusions: Stroke program production, development and maintenance of SPEBs cost time and money. An 18-month system wide collaboration for standardization of the SPEB significantly decreased cost per SPEB to all hospital sites within the large five state health system. Implementation of standardized SPEBs can save facilities thousands of dollars per year.