Health Catalyst awarded WakeMed Health & Hospitals the 2024 Catalyst Award in Quality and Cost. The award, given at the Healthcare Analytics Summit (HAS) this February, acknowledges WakeMed's exceptional utilization of healthcare data and analytics to revolutionize healthcare and enhance the well-being of the individuals it serves. The organization was specifically recognized for its systemwide clinical variation improvement work that improved capacity and reduced variable costs by $10M.
WakeMed is the largest health system in North Carolina’s largest county. The health system deployed clinical transformation teams and the Health Catalyst® data platform, allowing them to access reliable high-value data and analytics, resulting in the optimization of processes for improved performance and deeper trust in data. This also led to reducing unnecessary care variation and lowering costs while enhancing care quality and the patient experience.
WakeMed, which boasts a network of hospitals, medical offices, and healthplexes, also placed further importance on supporting the advancement of clinical transformation by taking steps to align compensation structures for physicians and leaders to encourage improved performance.
The organization's clinical, operational, and financial leaders established a methodology for measuring improvement. As a result, WakeMed was recognized for utilizing data intentionally to measure and enhance patient outcomes and quantify the impact on patients' lives and their financial performance.
Specifically, Health Catalyst commended WakeMed for successfully preventing 37 patients from being readmitted to the hospital and saving the lives of 17 patients who underwent surgery. The health system also eliminated the need for ten additional inpatient beds daily throughout the year. These accomplishments have significantly impacted WakeMed's ability to serve its community effectively.
Overall, WakeMed's dedication to utilizing healthcare data and analytics has resulted in substantial improvements that have transformed healthcare delivery and positively impacted countless lives.
