title: What Is the Return on Investment for Implementation of a Crew Resource Management Program at an Academic Medical Center?
abstract: Crew Resource Management (CRM) training has been used successfully within hospital units to improve quality and safety. This article presents a description of a health system-wide implementation of CRM focusing on the return on investment (ROI). The costs included training, programmatic fixed costs, time away from work, and leadership time. Cost savings were calculated based on the reduction in avoidable adverse events and cost estimates from the literature. Between July 2010 and July 2013, roughly 3000 health system employees across 12 areas were trained, costing $3.6 million. The total number of adverse events avoided was 735-a 25.7% reduction in observed relative to expected events. Savings ranged from a conservative estimate of $12.6 million to as much as $28.0 million. Therefore, the overall ROI for CRM training was in the range of $9.1 to $24.4 million. CRM presents a financially viable way to systematically organize for quality improvement.
authors.affiliation: 1 The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
authors.forename: Susan D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Moffatt-Bruce
authors.affiliation: 1 The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Hefner
authors.affiliation: 1 The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
authors.forename: Hagop
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mekhjian
authors.affiliation: 2 Wright State University, Dayton, OH.
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: McAlearney
authors.affiliation: 1 The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Latimer
authors.affiliation: 1 The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ellison
authors.affiliation: 1 The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
authors.forename: Ann Scheck
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: McAlearney
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007857:Leadership; D017059:Models, Econometric; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017751:Safety Management / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards
keywords: crew resource management; medical errors; organizational change; patient safety; quality improvement