Does improving quality save money? A review of evidence of which improvements to quality reduce costs to health service providers

This report reviews the evidence of whether improving quality can also save money for health service providers. It explores the cost saving potential of initiatives to improve quality and the barriers to success.

The evidence suggests that improving quality could have an important if limited contribution to addressing financial pressures. At a local level, clinicians and managers can increase their likelihood of success by: working together to meet the challenge, using tested improvements that are adapted to local circumstances, using reported experiential evidence; measuring and monitoring the improvement, including how much it has cost and how much it has saved; and above all by managing implementation skilfully.