By Maureen McKinney

April 22, 2008 | Premier, a hospital improvement group based in Charlotte, N.C., recently kicked off the QUEST Supplier Innovation Program aimed at testing and evaluating new technologies. The idea is to integrate suppliers into its existing QUEST performance initiative.

The program, which launched on April 15, will be open to any interested suppliers including IT vendors, pharmaceutical companies, and medical device manufacturers, explained Andy Brailo, Premier’s vice president of strategic accounts and co-chair of the supplier innovation program.

The new project is only one component of the larger QUEST: High Performing Hospitals Initiative, a three-year program that kicked off in January 2008. The hospital initiative includes a cohort of 150 providers. The overarching goal of the project, according to Meg Horgan, vice president for client services and QUEST project lead, is to move all of the hospitals into the top performance threshold in five categories: efficiency, mortality, patient experience, harm, and evidence-based care.

“We evaluate baseline performance in each hospital, and try to get them all in the bulls-eye in all five areas,” Horgan said. “There are hospitals with pockets of excellence, but we want them to be great across the board. This is large-scale collaborative that will allow them to share tools and best practices with one another.”

While developing the hospital improvement initiative, both Brailo and Horgan began to receive feedback from suppliers who wanted to participate in the project in some capacity. In response, they created the supplier innovation program as a way to provide the supplier community with an arena to test their products, as well as a way to utilize new technologies to help hospitals reach their target thresholds, said Brailo.

After interested vendors submit their detailed applications—complete with testimonials, white papers, and use cases—a subset of seven hospitals will narrow them down based on which interventions have the best chance of impacting quality of care. Once they have chosen a core group of “change concepts” to test, the seven charter members will advocate and solicit the involvement of member hospitals to pilot and validate them, Horgan said.

“It’s important that we’re not just testing in one area,” said Horgan. “One device might reduce costs, but we need to see if it will also reduce harm and increase efficiency.”

For instance, if the charter group chooses a medical device such as a catheter for testing, Horgan said, pilot hospitals must have a way to electronically capture its use—like a charge code—so that project managers can track its usage. After implementation, QUEST can then assess costs and number of urinary tract infections to determine how the device improves harm, efficiency, and cost of care, she added.

“These suppliers have actively solicited ways to get involved with the QUEST initiative, said Brailo. “They have been extremely enthusiastic, and it gives them an opportunity to do something that is less about their supply chain and more about improving patient outcomes.”

Participating hospitals also view the project as one way to potentially affect change in the industry, according to Horgan. In fact, QUEST’s advisory panel is a “who’s who of the industry, medical societies, and government groups,” and members of that panel have expressed interest in knowing which change concepts are effective, she said.

So far, 40 suppliers have submitted applications, and in order to be considered for the first phase of the project, submissions must be received by May 30.