In each blog piece, we champion intangible asset management on the premise that superior stewardship creates enterprise value. We point out that management entails the adoption and conformance with specified business processes. We often provide enterprise-level data showing intangible asset value creation.

Today's note on safety also enumerates process steps and provides more granular value data. First, the value: 18 months, 1500 lives, $200 million.

Now the back story and process steps. This past Friday, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the award of $8 million to fund a national expansion of the Keystone Project.

The Michigan Keystone Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Project, a partnership between the Michigan Health & Hospital Association and Johns Hopkins University, sought to change clinicians’ behaviors when inserting catheters into ICU patients. It was hypothesized that introducing best practices in the execution of an invasive medical procedure on relatively infection-prone patients would reduce the incidence of health care-associated infections.

Health care associated infections are among the top ten leading causes of death in the United States. Such life-threatening infections significantly drive up the cost of health care by nearly $28 to $33 billion per year.

These are the process changes the team deployed. First, the team made a process checklist, measured infection rates, and changed hospital culture. The checklist’s components consisted of hand washing; using a cap, gown, and mask; cleaning the patient’s skin with a disinfectant; avoiding placing catheters near the groin; and removing unnecessary catheters. These five steps were associated with a 66-percent reduction in these infections throughout the state. The ROI calculation: for every dollar invested, $200 was saved.

The take home message: to effect business process changes, defining and measuring key metrics, deploying processes (train, observe, and encourage conformance), and communicate benefits arising comprise the best practices. Follow this sequence, and you will be able to show a favorable ROI and maybe even save lives.