Sepsis affects at least 1.7 million U.S. adults per year, making it a pivotal improvement opportunity for healthcare organizations. The condition, however, has proven problematic for health systems. Common challenges including differentiating between sepsis and a patient’s acute illness and data access. In response, organizations must have comprehensive, timely data and advanced analytics capabilities to understand sepsis within their populations and monitor care programs. These tools can help organizations identify sepsis, intervene early, save lives, and sustain improvements over time.

1. Improving Sepsis Care:
Three Paths to Better Outcomes

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Improving Sepsis Care
During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical
attention has heavily focused on treating
affected patients and preventing or slowing
transmission.
Meanwhile, non-COVID-19 diseases and
conditions have continued to impact
healthcare consumers, demanding that
providers maintain and enhance strategies
around other serious conditions.

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Improving Sepsis Care
Sepsis, for example, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, affects at
least 1.7 million U.S. adults each year.
Additionally, almost 270,000 Americans die
due to sepsis, and one in three patients who
dies in a hospital has sepsis.
The disease costs health systems more
than $24 billion annually.

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Improving Sepsis Care
With such a broad and significant impact,
improving care programs can help
organizations better care for their patients
and improve financial outcomes in the
COVID-19 era and beyond.
Data- and analytics-powered strategies to
identify sepsis and intervene early can
help health systems reduce sepsis burden
on their populations and care teams,
freeing up resources for emerging
challenges and saving lives.

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Three Ways Health Systems Are
Improving Sepsis Care
Health systems can use data and analytics
to improve sepsis outcomes, from increased
early detection to decreased mortality, and
sustain those improvements:
Improving
Identification
of Patients
with Sepsis
Reducing
Sepsis Mortality
with Early
Intervention
Leveraging
Data to
Sustain Sepsis
Improvements

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Three Ways Health Systems Are
Improving Sepsis Care
1: Improving Identification of Patients with Sepsis
Prompt identification of sepsis allows for
timely intervention, often a critical part of
outcomes improvement.
However, healthcare providers often struggle
to differentiate between sepsis and a patient’s
acute illness.
Data quality and coding issues around the
condition also make the early diagnosis of
sepsis challenging

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Three Ways Health Systems Are
Improving Sepsis Care
1: Improving Identification of Patients with Sepsis
In response, health systems can use timely,
focused data to gain a comprehensive view
of sepsis at their facilities, including
identifying the disease early in its course.
For example, Mission Health of Asheville,
North Carolina, used data analytics to
implement better identification and early
intervention for inpatients who potentially
had sepsis.

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Three Ways Health Systems Are
Improving Sepsis Care
1: Improving Identification of Patients with Sepsis
The health system used the Health Catalyst
Data Operating System (DOS™) and an
analytics application focused on sepsis
management to access timely data and
support early sepsis intervention.
As a result, the organization achieved a 45.3
percent relative reduction in severe sepsis
and septic shock among inpatients and a 14.4
percent relative reduction in length of stay.

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Three Ways Health Systems Are
Improving Sepsis Care
2: Reducing Sepsis Mortality with Early Intervention
Even organizations that follow evidence-
based sepsis care protocols often have
higher-than-acceptable mortality rates
from the disease.
In such cases, health systems need
more in-depth insight into their sepsis
care performance and an analytics-
driven strategy to improve outcomes.

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Three Ways Health Systems Are
Improving Sepsis Care
2: Reducing Sepsis Mortality with Early Intervention
For example, Indiana-based Community
Health Network (CHNw) implemented an
analytics platform (DOS) and an analytics
accelerator to better understand gaps in
their sepsis care that might contribute to
worse outcomes.
The health system incorporated evidence-
based order sets for sepsis care into its EMR
and optimized the order sets to align with the
emergency department provider workflow.

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Three Ways Health Systems Are
Improving Sepsis Care
2: Reducing Sepsis Mortality with Early Intervention
By monitoring performance for and adherence to
sepsis process measures, such as the timely
administration of antibiotics, and intervening
when care didn’t meet these standards, CHNw
prevented 120 sepsis-related deaths.
The organization’s sepsis improvement initiative
also resulted in $5.5 million in savings.

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Three Ways Health Systems Are
Improving Sepsis Care
3: Leveraging Data to Sustain Sepsis Improvements
After a health system improves its sepsis
mortality rates, its next challenge is
maintaining that improvement.
Organizations can sustain improved
sepsis care by using the same data
platforms and analytics applications that
enable its initial improvements to monitor
and measure ongoing performance.

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Three Ways Health Systems Are
Improving Sepsis Care
3: Leveraging Data to Sustain Sepsis Improvements
In one example of sustained sepsis improve-
ment, Thibodaux Regional Health System has
used the sepsis analytics accelerator to ensure
it maintains its improvements around the
timely identification and treatment of sepsis.

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Three Ways Health Systems Are
Improving Sepsis Care
3: Leveraging Data to Sustain Sepsis Improvements
The organization’s sepsis care transform-
ation team uses the analytics accelerator to
continually inform providers and nursing
care staff about their performance.
As a result, Thibodaux regional has
sustained its 36.4 percent relative reduction
in the sepsis mortality rate for more than
three years.

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Data and Analytics Enable Short- and Long-Term
Sepsis Improvement
With more than one million individuals
impacted and billions of healthcare dollars
spent per year, sepsis is a formidable concern
among healthcare consumers and providers.
However, as health system experiences show,
data- and analytics-based strategies can help
organizations drive down sepsis mortality
rates and costs and sustain those
improvements over time.

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For more information:
“This book is a fantastic piece of work”
– Robert Lindeman MD, FAAP, Chief Physician Quality Officer

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More about this topic
Link to original article for a more in-depth discussion.
Improving Sepsis Care: Three Paths to Better Outcomes
A More Accurate Sepsis Identification Method: Leveraging Physiological Data
Kathleen Merkley, DNP, APRN, FNP, SVP of Professional Services
The Top Six Examples of Quality Improvement in Healthcare
Health Catalyst Editors
Six Ways Health Systems Use Analytics to Improve Patient Safety
Health Catalyst Editors
Six Steps to Managing an Infection Control Breach
Heather Schoonover, MN, ARNP-CNS, PHCNS-BC, FCNS, VP
Transforming Healthcare Analytics: Five Critical Steps
Ann Tinker, MSN, RN, Professional Services, SVP; Dan Hopkins, Professional Services, VP

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