Jeff and Sara Simmons describe themselves as a “pretty average, middle-class” family living in a Northern California suburb with their sons. “We live a Lego life with two boys,” laughs Sara, describing her toy-strewn living room.

But eight years ago, Sara was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, thrusting her into a routine of checking her insulin, monitoring her diet—and paying steep bills for medication and medical equipment. Recently, 7-year-old Owen also was diagnosed with the disease. And the family has to plan for the possibility that 5-year-old Griffin might be diagnosed with it as well.

尽管这家人有凯撒医疗保险公司的医疗保险，但与欧文护理相关的新账单让他们不堪重负。他们向KP的一个医疗援助项目申请帮助，该项目帮助他们度过难关，直到他们能够处理新的现实。

In the months since, the Simmonses have made some tough choices—deciding, for example, to sell their home and move to an area with a lower cost of living. But Jeff, a manager in a major corporation, worries about how families with lower incomes and fewer health care benefits than his would have fared under similar circumstances.

“How do they do this?” he wonders. “How are they surviving all of these curveballs?”

他说，对大多数人来说，医疗保健“绝对”不是负担得起的，然后又补充说，“每个人都应该有负担得起的医疗保健。”期。”

A difficult equation

The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010 was a major step toward ensuring all Americans have access to health care. As provisions of that act take effect in 2014, Kaiser Permanente will have an extraordinary opportunity to further our historic mission of providing affordable, high-quality health care to working families. But with the opportunity comes a difficult financial reality. Because these incoming new members may not have had access to health care in the past, they may be costly to treat—and federal reimbursements may be on the low side. In addition, the federal government has recently cut the rates for Medicare reimbursements, which typically have provided about one-third of KP’s revenue.

So Kaiser Permanente and unit-based teams face the challenge of treating more—and perhaps sicker—patients with fewer resources while maintaining and increasing the quality of care. Now more than ever, allocating our resources wisely is vitally important.

Frugal power

很容易看到，拥有数百万美元预算的部门如何在保持平价KP中发挥作用。例如，美国国家设施服务公司(National Facility Services)在建造一个新的数据中心时，就一直在关注潜在的能源节约，并在2010年节省了约45万美元的电力成本，并从当地的公用事业公司获得了30万美元的奖励。另一个例子是:仅2010年一年，KP就通过购买更安全、更环保的工业化学品节省了2600万美元。截至2011年8月，KP重新设计了部署计算机工作站的方式，节省了1200万美元。

但是基于单位的团队也扮演着同样重要的角色，即使大多数团队并不能控制巨大的预算。事实上，在整个组织中有超过3500个UBTs，这意味着节省可以大大增加。

Some teams are saving “light green dollars,” focusing on efforts that indirectly improve the financial picture. That might be boosting service and quality, which helps us get new members and retain the ones we have, or improving patient safety, which reduces a variety of expenses, including costly hospital readmissions.

Others are tackling “dark green dollars,” direct savings that improve the bottom line right away. In fact, efficiency and non-payroll cost reduction is the fastest-growing category of projects for teams, according to an analysis of UBT Tracker data.

你的团队是否正在寻找节省浅绿色或深绿色美元的新方法——或者需要开始存钱的想法?Read Four Ways to Save.