New Value Paradigm

Quality improvement is a systematic and continuous process which leads to improvements in healthcare services. The health services are then a reflection of the improving health status of a patient population (Health Resources & Services Administration, n.d.). Quality improvement strategies are the actions which a team will take to accomplish the goals of process improvement. The Institute of Medicine (2001) has developed a vision of six aims for improvement in healthcare which include, safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable care. Making improvements in these areas will better meet the needs of patients.

Quality of care is the fundamental goal of health care, yet it is difficult to define. It is a concept that health care policy and programming strives for, and that many have attempted to elucidate. Given its many components and manifestations, defining and quantifying

Various methodologies exist for the integration of quality improvement strategies into performance improvement measures. With concepts of total quality management (TQM) and quality improvement (QI) being introduced to health care organizations; administrators have had to decide which methodology is right for the organization. There are numerous methodologies: Six Sigma, Lean, and Customer Inspired Quality. Each has its own pros and cons. A key component of quality improvement is the technology that gathers and compares the data that the quality improvement measure

Our Performance and Quality Improvement Process is based on the Continuous Quality Improvement Model which focuses on the importance of continuing to ask “Can we do it better? Can we do this more quickly? Is there something else we could do to improve the quality of care for our clients and the tools for our staff who deliver this high quality care?” In this model, the point is to focus on improvement even when nothing is wrong.

Quality Improvement can be defined as the combined effort of health care professionals including, doctors, nurses, healthcare managers who ensure better patients outcome such as quality care, safety, better system performance and better professional development. Healthcare system always goes through changes, whether its implementation of new systems or diagnosis of new disease. Therefore, health organizations are always in need of some improvement and advancement. In order to achieve improvement, systems have to go through a series of change; however, not all changes can be called an improvement. To ensure the improvement in these systems, some powerful strategies are planned, designed and implemented. These formal strategies analyze the systemic efforts and measure performance in order to improve the entire system and is called quality improvement or QI program.

In today’s health care organizations, Continuous Quality Improvement is a structured organizational process created to improve the quality of health care. The CQI system uses data collected to make positive changes and to recognize trends even before a problem exist. I had the opportunity to administer a “one on one” interview with one of University Medical Center‘s Epic Application Coordinators. Debra Lewis is Senior Analyst whose job entails building systems or designs in the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) department for end users. The Health Information and Compliance Departments are her clients within the hospital. Debra usually deals with the Health Information Modular (HIM) to create applications request which consist of release of information and identity, deficiency tracking, and hospital coding. If the client recognized that the current application needs improvement to be more efficient, they can send a request to see if a system can be built to a specific model for a particular provision. Her educational training has enabled her to perform at an advanced level throughout her professional career. Debra received her A.A.S degree in Health Information Technology, a Bachelors and M.B.A. in Business Administration, and also received credentialing as a Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA). With over 25 years of healthcare experience, she is no stranger to Continuous Quality

The process emphasizes modifications of system when there are changes to achieve organizational goals (Begunn, Kaissi & Sweetland, 2005). For example, a leader’s approach to patient safety could be a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI). CQI is an approach to quality management; it principle is built on the traditional quality assurance that emphasizes on an organization and it systems. It focuses on process rather than an individual; it recognizes both internal and external customers and it improve system processes.

Esain, A. E., Williams, S. J., Gakhal, S., Caley, L., & Cooke, M. W. (2012). Healthcare quality improvement - policy implications and practicalities. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 25(7), 565-81. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09526

I agree with you. In order to improve quality care, it is important to evaluate outcomes, structure and process. The six aims from the IOM should be considered when planning quality care and that is done in process and structure. There are times when outcome are positive but the process or structure might be poor.

Efforts towards Quality Improvement (QI) have been implemented into healthcare systems to address and improve quality issues. It emphasizes on the importance of consistency for meeting patient demands and expectations, as this dictates how valuable the organization appears in the eyes of their stakeholders. The most recent of the methods is Quality Management (QM), in which QI is derived around management activities and functions to achieve high patient satisfaction rates and technical quality for health care organizations. Other existing QM tools include Total Quality Management (TQM)/Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) and

It is pertinent to understand why the word “quality” important and what makes it relevant to patient care and service. One can imagine that the innovation in technology is expanding faster than the

Donabedian in his research recognizes that an outcome in itself is part of the quality measurement framework (. Sadeghi, S., Barzi, A., Mikhail, O., & Shabot, M, 2013, p.). Some of the common quality measurable factors that healthcare uses are processes, infrastructure and patient experience. They are also an important fit in regards to the healthcare values, mission, and vision. The quality measurements are relevant to the principles and operations that are the substance of an organization’s uniqueness. They are the essential stimulus and lucidity of resolve that repetitively guide all personnel and members of the organization toward the same goals.

Achieving quality health care value is a goal that many different health care institutions strive for. The need has led to the adoption of various quality improvement processes in health care facilities (Stevans, Bise, McGee, Miller, Rockar, & Delitto, 2015). Health care providers and health care institutions are forced to use evidence-based plans as a way of promoting quality healhcare.

The new health care era focuses on improving patient health outcomes (Kirzecky & Jones, 2013). As a result, the uncertainty in the United States health services industry and the constant changes place significant demand on health care providers and the individuals who lead and manage health care delivery systems (Stowe, Haefner, & Behling, 2010). Therefore, managed care organizations and other payers are shifting to vertical integration in order, to improve the care of special populations, such as children, the elderly, and chronic illness, through health management services (Kirzecky & Jones, 2013). Overall, health care is a service industry, which requires organization procedures to adapt to the patient 's health condition or needs (Munechika et al., 2014). Therefore, a quality management system is an organization procedure or mechanism to ensure a consistent high quality product (Munechika et al., 2014). Although, managed care organizations may vary in their quality management approach it is still essential to adequately deliver medical care services with high quality to patients.

With the complexity of today’s healthcare systems, any changes made to business processes, revenue streams, legal and compliance laws, clinical therapies, outbreaks, natural disasters, or simply an improvement in technology, can disrupt the value stream. With the exception of, perhaps, clinical therapies and outbreaks, a healthcare system needs to be able to adapt to similar changes just as any other enterprise may. Thus, standardized business practices, methodological approaches, and disciplined decision making are at the core of managing a healthcare value chain. The delivery of the products and services of a healthcare entity may perhaps be of a much greater concern to its customers than another firm’s products and services; however, the perception of value will always be based on quantifiable terms of quality and utility regardless of the industry, with the exception being emotional or psychological impressions.