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Improving The Quality Of Healthcare Services

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Introduction
In the United States the healthcare system is influenced by the cost and the quality of services delivered to its citizens. The cost in healthcare refers to the services rendered, production or actual money spent on services provided. Quality in healthcare is defined as measurable standard for services provided. In healthcare, both the cost and quality are dependent on each other and the initiatives can be regulated by a public or private agency.
Healthcare Agencies
The Department of Health and Human Services is a public agency. It has several operating divisions however, two divisions are mentioned the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for its …show more content…

“The standards focus on important patient, individual, or resident care and organization functions that are essential to providing safe, high quality care” (Joint Commission,2017, Standars:para1). The Joint Commission focuses on quality and efficiency to provide safe patient care. Ideally, the quality measures are able to maintain the high standards without raising the costs of healthcare services.
Healthcare Initiatives
The Department of Health and Human Services has six quality strategy goals:
• “safer care by reducing harm caused in the delivery of care”
• “strengthening the person and family engagement as partners in their care”
• “promoting effective communication and coordination”
• “promoting effective treatment of chronic disease”
• “working with communities to promote best practices of living healthy living”
• “making health care affordable” (Department of Health and Human Services, 2016, Quality Card).
Through its Healthcare cost and utilization project the Department of Health and Human Services is able to manage costs while simultaneously providing quality care. The project is a “database and related software tools that enables research on o broad range of health care issues, including cost and quality of health services, medical practice patterns, access to healthcare programs and outcomes of treatments on a

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