Quality Measures For Health Care

A set of metrics is used to measure the performance of the organization, in case metric fails to meet a set standard, steps are taken to correct the deficiency. The volume of the patient is of great importance for a health care organization. A drop in patients volume results into loss of business and may force the organization to decrease operational cost, by cutting labor and inventory expenses. On the other hand, increase in a number of patients is a sign of growth and requires an addition of staff and expansion of services.

By 2001 it was brutally apparent that the U.S. Health Care system was in dire need of a reform in regards to quality and patient safety. Following two separate reports issued by The Institute of Medicine (IOM), To Err is Human (1999) and Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health Care System for the 21st Century(2001) the U.S. Congress requested the IOM review quality processes across multiple government funded health care programs. And understandably, “these reports described America’s healthcare system as a tangled, highly fragmented web that often wastes resources by duplicating efforts, leaving unaccountable gaps in coverage, and failing to build on the strengths of all health professionals” (Brown J., p. I – 15, 2013). Thus, the Committee on the Quality of Health Care in America released 6 aims to address key dimensions that require improvement in our health care system. These aims propose that our system needs to strive to be more Safe, Effective, Patient-Centered, Timely, Efficient, and Equitable (STEEEP). All of which were created to help overhaul our current health care system and, more importantly, narrow the quality chasm.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a federal health reform legislation engineered to provide Americans with high quality, affordable cost and better access to health care [1]. To address these overarching aims, the ACA requires the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care, also known as the National Quality Strategy (NQS) [2]. The strategy sets three aims. First, to make health care more reliable,

Quality management is essential to the success of the quality improvement of the health care industry. “Management uses management and planning tools to organize the decision making process and create a hierarchy when faced with competing priorities “( Ransom, et al., 2008). Quality measures should have these goals: effective, safe, efficient, patient-centered, equitable, and timely care (Quality Measures, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2011).

Ransom, E. R., Joshi, M. S., Nash, D. B., & Ransom, S. B. (Eds.). (2008). The healthcare quality

For health care organizations quality data collection is an essential tool used for data collection. The information produced from the data assists the health care organization in other functions such as effective ways to manage and perform decision making for the organization, this includes the strategic planning process. Quality improvement is the method of assessing processes and provides the information necessary to improve services. All of this together allows the health care organization to become a high producing system of

Claxton, Cox, Gonzales, Kamal, and Levitt (2015) explains measuring the effectiveness and quality of care provided for the patients were unclear. Therefore, quality measures were developed by organizations, such as healthcare providers, the federal government, and accredited organizations. Thereby, focusing on measuring specific areas of care and performance

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) core measures are geared at measurement of quality of care in specific areas. Development of the measures involves a rigorous process of incorporating information from stakeholders such as clinicians and medical societies, and

Health care systems are made to improve and provide quality, efficient care, work in a more collective fashion to improve patient care and reduce overall healthcare cost. They must be mindful of wasteful spending and become more accountable to a diverse patient population.

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

In an ever increasingly competitive healthcare environment, there is a need to determine that 1) the desired outcome is produced, 2) quality care is provided and 3) the cost of care is the lowest possible. Yet the basis for the determination of such is having the right kind of measures available. Dr. Trudy Mallinson is one such specialist in the program who has the year of experience

West Florida Regional Medical Center (WFRMC) located on the north side of Pensacola, Florida competed strongly with sacred heart and Baptist hospitals for patients. WFRMC’s CEO John Kausch was an active member of the Total Quality Council of the Pensacola Area Chamber of Commerce (PATQC) (McLaughlin, C.P., Johnson, J.K., & Sollecito, 2012).. PATQC’s vision was to develop the Pensacola, Florida area into a total quality community by promoting productivity, quality and economic developments in all area organizations both public and private (McLaughlin, et, al., 2012). John

Definitions of the quality of medical care are no longer left to clinicians who decide for themselves what technical performance constitutes “good care.” What are the other dimensions of quality care and why are they important? What has changed since the days when “doctor knows best?”

Examining planning for and effectively measuring the health care quality indicators make healthcare quality more transparent and provide information for quality improvement programs and initiatives in the healthcare system.

Quality is one of the most essential elements of healthcare. As stated by the Agency of Health Research and Quality, “Everyday, millions of Americans receive high-quality health care that helps to maintain or restore their health and ability to function” (Agency of Health Research and Quality, 2014). Improvements have become vital to the success of health care organizations and in the Healthcare Quality Book, it is explained that quality in the U.S. healthcare system is not at the standard that it should be (Ransom, Joshi, Nash & Ransom, 2008). Although this has been a reoccurring issue, attempts to fix the insufficiency have been less successful than expected.