Toby Cosgrove

“Cleveland Clinic Case Study At Cleveland Clinic, we encourage different areas of the organization to perform the kind of analysis just described by holding them accountable for saving money. In 2009, Cleveland Clinic set an organizational goal of reducing the amount it was spending on supplies of various kinds. It took its inspiration from Apple, a company that maintains stringent control over the cost of supplies. To help the internal cost-cutting committees, we set out to raise care providers’ consciousness, putting price tags on instruments and supplies and posting the costs of supplies where caregivers could see them. The goal was to make caregivers mindful about supply use. These efforts helped the organization reach its goal of cutting spending on supplies by $100 million over two years. To promote ongoing cost awareness and savings, we created scorecards that quantify and measure quality and cost, and we set goals: “Cut your costs on heart valve implants by 20 percent while improving quality by 10 percent.” We check the progress on these scorecards every three months. If we don’t see movement in the right direction, we ask new questions and implement ways to encourage and reward cost-saving measures.”
― Toby Cosgrove, The Cleveland Clinic Way: Lessons in Excellence from One of the World's Leading Health Care Organizations DIGITAL AUDIO: Lessons in Excellence from One of the World's Leading Healthcare Organizations

“True creativity in medicine doesn't take place within disciplines so much as it does at the boundaries between disciplines.”
― Toby Cosgrove, The Cleveland Clinic Way: Lessons in Excellence from One of the World's Leading Health Care Organizations