Financial impact of a targeted reduction in cardiac enzyme testing at a community hospital.
OBJECTIVE
Nearly one-third of healthcare costs are potentially avoidable and would not compromise medical care if eliminated. Therefore, we sought to evaluate the financial impact of reduction in use of creatinine kinase (CK)-MB and myoglobin tests after removing them from the cardiac enzyme order set at a community hospital.


METHODS
Grand rounds were held, and an email notification was sent to de-emphasize the use of CK, CK-MB, myoglobin, SGOT (glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase), and SGPT (serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase) in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) work up. The above tests were removed from the pre-checked cardiac enzyme order set in the computerized physician order entry on February 13, 2014. The tests continued to be available, but needed to be ordered individually. The mean monthly volume of cardiac enzyme tests for 12 months after this intervention was compared with the mean monthly volume of 12 months before the change. Total cost savings were calculated.


RESULTS
After the intervention, the number of CK, CK-MB, myoglobin, SGOT, and SGPT tests utilized for ACS workup decreased dramatically (p<0.001). The volume of troponin testing remained the same (p=0.283). The total annual savings of billable charges to healthcare payers was $463,744.7.


CONCLUSIONS
Removal of CK-MB, myoglobin, CK, SGOT, and SGPT tests from cardiac enzyme order sets can successfully reduce unnecessary laboratory testing for ACS workup, leading to significant cost savings to the healthcare system.
St Agnes Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Li
L
Zhang
St Agnes Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Anne M
AM
Sill
Grant Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA.
Ilene
I
Young
Ross University School of Medicine, Portsmouth, Dominica.
Sabreen
S
Ahmed
St Agnes Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Maria
M
Morales
St Agnes Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA; skuehl@stagnes.org.
Sapna
S
Kuehl
CK-MB; acute coronary syndrome; cost reduction; myoglobin; quality improvement; troponin