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Cost And Quality Of Healthcare

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Cost and Quality in Healthcare When it comes to improving healthcare, one must be focused not only on quality but also on cost. The question is then raised: Will higher cost result in higher quality care or will higher quality care help control costs? It is no secret that healthcare is incredibly expensive in the United States. Despite healthcare in the United States being 50 – 200% more expensive that in other economically developed countries, life expectancy rates and quality indicator scores are also lower (Burke & Andrew, 2014). This paper will provide highlights of a couple of current initiatives both in the private and public sectors that address cost and quality of healthcare as well as implications for nurses regarding evidence based practice relative to cost and quality. Cost and Quality in the Private Sector There has been much progress to support better quality healthcare in recent years. Focus is around the development of quality measures, thanks to private organizations such as the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). The NCQA developed what is called the patient-centered medical home model. This is a model of care that emphasizes care coordination and communication to transform primary care into what patients want and need. “The NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition is the most widely adopted model for transforming primary care practices into medical homes (NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home, 2015).” Following the

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