Care variation reduction (CVR) remains a top priority for physician executives aiming to reduce costs while improving quality. The challenge most organizations face is to prioritize the right clinical conditions for standardization—and then scale standards system-wide—to unlock significant savings. This report provides an analysis of the national CVR cost savings opportunity, and in-depth profiles of organizations that have successfully scaled their CVR efforts.

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The potential return of reducing unwarranted care variation

By analyzing more than 20 million patient discharges (from over 450 hospitals), Advisory Board has quantified the potential of CVR to generate critically needed cost savings while also improving care quality.

Our national analysis found that costs, care variation and care quality track together. Hospitals in the top quartile for quality performance had less variation and lower costs. In fact, the average hospital could unlock over $16 million in savings if it reduced variation and achieved top-quartile quality performance across the 30 conditions with the greatest cost savings opportunity.

Pursuing care variation reduction at scale

This report features in-depth case studies of the four organizations and top-opportunity clinical conditions listed below:

Emory Healthcare—Sepsis (p. 26)
For additional implementation resources, see Emory's Sepsis Care Variation Reduction Starter Kit.

Christiana Care—Stroke (p. 42)
For additional implementation resources, see Christiana Care's Stroke Care Variation Reduction Starter Kit.

Atrium Health—AMI (p. 55)
For additional implementation resources, see Atrium's AMI Care Variation Reduction Starter Kit.

Mission Health System—COPD (p. 70)
For additional implementation resources, see Mission's COPD Care Variation Reduction Starter Kit.

See Advisory Board’s CVR Opportunity Analysis Methodology for additional details of our cost savings opportunity analysis.