The economics of preventing hospital falls: demonstrating ROI through a simple model

• Published in: The Journal of nursing administration Vol. 45; no. 1; p. 50
• Main Authors: Spetz, Joanne, Brown, Diane S, Aydin, Carolyn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.01.2015
• Subjects: Accident Prevention - economics; Accident Prevention - statistics & numerical data; Accidental Falls - economics; Accidental Falls - statistics & numerical data; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Humans; Inpatients; Models, Economic; Nurse's Role; Patient Care Team - economics; Patient Safety - economics; Patient Safety - statistics & numerical data; Safety Management - economics; Safety Management - statistics & numerical data; United States; United States
• ISSN: 1539-0721
• DOI: 10.1097/NNA.0000000000000154

The objective of this study was to assess the cost savings associated with implementing nursing approaches to prevent in-hospital falls. Hospital rating programs often report fall rates, and performance-based payment systems force hospitals to bear the costs of treating patients after falls. Some interventions have been demonstrated as effective for falls prevention. Costs of falls-prevention programs, financial savings associated with in-hospital falls reduction, and achievable fall rate improvement are measured using published literature. Net costs are calculated for implementing a falls-prevention program as compared with not making improvements in patient fall rates. Falls-prevention programs can reduce the cost of treatment, but in many scenarios, the costs of falls-prevention programs were greater than potential cost savings. Falls-prevention programs need to be carefully targeted to patients at greatest risk in order to achieve cost savings.