Medical Error is the Third Leading Cause of Death in North America, but Improving the Supply Chain Infrastructure of Health Systems Can Eliminate This Problem

A New HIMSS Maturity Model Guides Healthcare Organizations in Improving Patient Safety and Quality of Care, While Saving Lives and Reducing Cost


CHICAGO, Nov. 05, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Behind heart disease and cancer, medical error has become the third leading cause of death in North America. As alarming as this is, there are ways health providers can solve this preventable issue. Today, HIMSS introduced the Clinically Integrated Supply Outcomes Model (CISOM). The new outcomes-based maturity model provides healthcare organizations with a strategic roadmap to advance supply chain infrastructure, and in turn, strengthen the safety and quality of care.

Leveraging the CISOM, healthcare providers can track and trace all aspects of care to help identify, manage and eliminate waste, and most importantly, reduce the prevalence of medical errors. Automated supply chain infrastructure at the point of care identifies the risk of adverse events and cues clinicians to proactively intervene. This framework ultimately helps to prevent unnecessary errors and patient harm. 

According to industry research, a number of health systems have already seen the value in clinically integrated supply chain infrastructure, which informed the design and development of the CISOM tool:  

  • One health system in the United States was able to uncover $1 billion in savings as a direct outcome of optimizing and transforming supply chain processes. Most savings were due to inventory management, including a 29.5 percent decline in labor costs and 33 percent decline in supply costs.
  • Another health system in Canada, covering an entire province, realized $301,438,786 (CAD) in savings over seven years, in inventory only.
  • A national health system in the United Kingdom is expected to save £1,034,000,000 by year seven of their work through CISOM, £30 million per month for all Trusts. This is the equivalent of 16 full time employees in labor savings per Trust.

Using the CISOM, healthcare organizations are given guideposts that outline:

  • Utilization of global standards related to products, patients and geography;
  • Optimization of inventory to help identify cost saving opportunities;
  • Traceability of both products and individualized care; and
  • Integration of supply chain tools to inform clinical decision making, proactive risk management and care innovation.  

This all leads to the personalization of care for populations and ensures clinicians have the data readily available to deliver the best quality of care to their patients on a daily basis.

The CISOM is an eight stage model (0 – 7) that begins with the adoption of global standards and progresses towards automated inventory management, clinically integrated supply chain data analytics to inform decisions, as well as the use of predictive analytics to identify patient risks so clinicians can prevent adverse events. Organizations are able to adopt and implement criteria in the model through four key focus areas: automation, clinical integration, predictive data analytics and governance/leadership. The CISOM is now globally available. For more information, visit: www.himssanalytics.org/cisom.

About HIMSS
HIMSS is a global advisor and thought leader supporting the transformation of the health ecosystem through information and technology. As a mission driven non-profit, HIMSS offers a unique depth and breadth of expertise in health innovation, public policy, workforce development, research and analytics to advise global leaders, stakeholders and influencers on best practices in health information and technology. Through our innovation engine, HIMSS delivers key insights, education and engaging events to healthcare providers, governments and market suppliers, ensuring they have the right information at the point of decision. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, HIMSS serves the global health information and technology communities with focused operations across North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Our members include more than 80,000 individuals, 480 provider organizations, 470 non-profit partners and 650 health services organizations.

Karen D. Groppe
Senior Director, Strategic Communications
Mobile 312.965.7898  | Twitter @Karen_D_Groppe