Healthcare quality

Healthcare quality

Quality Initiative is a national endeavor that counts on the current work of the long term and care profession of the post-acute by setting measurable and specific targets to improve quality further. Below are some of the quality initiatives for an organization aspiring to improve.

Staff stability: For an organization like a health care firm, it will definitely at the core of providing quality care when it works more closely with the residents. In assisted living communities, research shows that a more satisfied staff contributes to a higher quality of life for the residents. Providers will, therefore, see increased retention rates as well as fewer work-related incidents and injuries to the workforce with a more satisfied, committed, and well-trained staff, all of which add to overall community performance. The team that is more dedicated and consistent will more likely be able to understand and respond to each person’s needs effectively, hence reinforcing the long-term commitment of care profession to person-centered care delivery.

Customer satisfaction: Family members or residents need to be more satisfied with the health firm’s services at all times. The assisted living providers ensure person-centered care by making sure the residents’ needs and wishes, as well as those of their loved ones, are listened to. According to research, communities that perform better in other organizational outcomes have the highest rates of satisfaction.

Reduction of hospital readmissions: It is advisable to reduce hospital readmissions safely to a rate of 20% or less within 30 days of hospital discharges. Elderly individuals can significantly be disrupted by hospitalization, which can put them to further infections and complications. The likelihood of reduced functioning on return to the assisted living community can further be increased by admission. Hospital readmissions can cost billions of dollars to the Medicare program due to their adverse emotional, psychological, and physical effects on assisted living residents. It is always beneficial to residents when such events are prevented whenever possible. It has been highlighted as an opportunity for reducing the overall costs of health care systems by providers and policymakers.

Cost reduction in healthcare service is a significant concern for many hospitals nationwide. It is sometimes not easy to reduce the costs while at the same time maintaining patient care quality. Discussed below are some of the approaches hospitals can use to help reduce healthcare costs without sacrificing patient care.

Employing selective technology measures to reduce expensive turnover and burnout: Nurses should be encouraged to work smarter and not harder by hospitals by impacting their jobs to be better and not only about benefits packages and salaries. Technologies that can automatically monitor vital signs like predictive analytics tools, staff scheduling software, as well as wearable biosensors, should be used to power nurse efficiency without necessarily sacrificing the patient care quality. Overtime work can easily be monitored and prevented by the use of staff scheduling software, hence keeping nurses from being often overworked, also helping reduce payroll costs. The software also provides the ability to review upcoming schedules to the staff so that they can make adjustments to satisfy precise needs while effectively managing time. The information from the technologies can be used by nurses in real-time to prioritize patients, hence allowing them to focus on those patients that genuinely require immediate attention.

Automating repetitive administrative tasks: Caregivers and nurses require more time caring for their patients. Being closely watched over is what patients like, which helps boost their recovery process while at the same time reducing time spent in the hospital beds, hence reducing the costs that can result due to the longevity of staying in the hospital. Automated vital signs that can monitor and document can provide the most significant opportunities for improved efficiency and care.

Home care support: New programs initiated by many hospitals like home care rather than hospital stay can not only be beneficial for patients in the long run but also help reduce costs for patients like travel costs and hospital bed costs. The provision of quality care outside a hospital helps patients receive care in the comfort of their loved ones at their homes. Emergency room patients can be sent home to be receiving treatment at home, thanks to the new admit-to-home program. The provision of the same level of care to patients at home as in the hospital has been made possible with the introduction of continuous wireless monitoring software, which has helped reduce high costs. The implementation of out-of-hospital patient care has helped reduce costs while at the same time, decreasing overcrowding in hospitals and cases of staff fatigue.

A system of healthcare where there is little or no regulations by the government is free-market healthcare. Single-payer, on the other hand, is a government-centered healthcare system. The system is dependent on individual taxes to cover the healthcare costs from all residents. The two have differences in terms of quality services they provide, some of which are discussed below.

One significant difference in quality between the two systems is in terms of service provision.  A free-market system is well centered on people, unlike the single-payer, which is not. The services provided in a free market healthcare service do take into consideration the aspirations and preferences of the individual service user as well as their community culture since they need to do them a favor to remain competitive. A single-payer system does not take into consideration personal preferences and aspirations as the government regulates the services since it doesn’t require any favors from people. In this case, people-centered is an example of the quality of care.

Equitability is another quality of service; the two systems differ. Healthcare delivery in terms of quality according to personal characteristics like socioeconomic status, gender, and race is different between the two systems. For instance, in a single-payer system, there is equity in terms of healthcare coverage as it redresses both income-related and racial disparities in access and coverage to healthcare. In a free market system, everybody is free to have their covers for medical care, hence making it challenging to provide equity in care services.

Furthermore, timely service provision is another quality of service; the two systems differ. For instance, in a single-payer system, there is often overcrowding making the delivery of service to patients that require emergency attention less time as the hospitals work under government regulations and at official government time. In a free market system, there is timely service delivery, especially for those needing emergency care, with little or no overcrowding. It is because the system is controlled by individual owners who can set their own rules to attract more consumers due to their better services.

Patient’s Bill of Rights: It was announced on June 22, 2010, by President Obama in which it includes a set of protections applying to health coverage and was set to start on or after September 23, 2010. The Patient’s Bill of Rights was collaborated upon by various departments, including the Treasury, Labor, as well as Human and Health Services, as it was thought to be of great help to children with pre-existing conditions. Also, it was considered to offer protection to the choice of doctors of Americans, and even ending lifetime limits on the care that could be received by consumers.

Impact Act: It was established in 2014, and in 0ctober the same year, is when the bipartisan converted the Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) act to law. The legislation proved to be an essential step forward towards improving healthcare quality for millions of people, while at the same time providing critical information to both the government and consumers regarding outcomes and cost.

Government agencies and Health policy: They are the rules and regulations still available in the 21st century governing the practice and art of medicine. Billions of dollars have been budgeted and dedicated in such a system to ensure the nation is delivering quality and affordable healthcare. Making sure quality healthcare is accessible to all its consumers is the ultimate goal of the U.S. system.

Quality in healthcare is the degree to which individuals increase the likelihood of the desired health outcomes’, and populations’ health services are paramount to the success of any nation in terms of economic, social, and also political growth. Healthcare quality is, therefore, of great importance in various ways.

First, healthcare quality ensures efficiency in service delivery. Healthcare service delivery becomes smooth with high quality since there is adequate maximization of resource use, ensuring there is no wastage of the resources available. For instance, the use of new technologies like staff scheduling software can help power nurse efficiency while monitoring and preventing overtime work, which can prove to bring staff fatigue.

Moreover, quality healthcare services are vital for mortality reduction as it provides timely assistance to the patients. The rapid emergency care required to manage maternal complications as well as care for small and sick newborns is sometimes tricky for health facilities to offer. The primary cause is the poor quality of service provided by these health facilities. Still, with high-quality service, the difficulties for the health services to reduce mortality is minimal since there are reduced delays in delivering and receiving healthcare services. For example, the use of remote monitoring technology has led to the implementation of out-of-hospital programs, which has helped reduce overcrowding in hospitals, hence ensuring emergency care services are timely taken care of.

The third vital aspect of providing high-quality healthcare services is that it allows for a safe environment in the workplace. High-quality assistance in healthcare, with the help of technology, has significantly developed, ensuring nurses are well equipped not only with the better equipment for use but also with adequate knowledge that provides there is no room for medical errors. Safety of the workplace environment also helps reduce risks and harm to service users as well as helps avoid preventable injuries.

The protection of patient information is vital and valuable for both the patient and the society at large. Discussed below is a plan for the privacy and security of healthcare information. The first step is ensuring one is a covered entity. The second step is providing leadership; that is, reiterating the benefits of protecting the data of a patient. Next is documenting the Process, Actions as well as the Findings. The practice decisions, actions, and findings need to be faithfully recorded to safeguard patient information. Conducting a security risk analysis is the fourth step, which is done to compare what is legally and pragmatically needed to protect the information of the patient and the current security analysis.

The next step is developing an action plan using the risk analysis results conducted in the last step to mitigate the identified risks. Management and mitigation of the risks should be the sixth step as it requires the development of up-to-date written procedures and policies on how to protect e-PHI. The seventh step involves prevention through education and training, where the patient information is safeguarded by ensuring the workforce knows how the implementation of procedures, security audits, and policies are done. The next step is communicating with the patients reassuring them there is a system proactively protecting their privacy of health information. The ninth step involves updating the agreements of business associates, and finally attesting for the security risk analysis comes as the last step.