Cost and Quality Analysis: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality & Commonwealth Fund Paul Hamel Grand Canyon University: NUR 508 Dr. Forester February 27, 2013 Presently, cost and quality in health care are both indicators that are benchmarked in determining best healthcare practice. Two organizations both work towards meeting these objectives in healthcare, The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a public agency and the Commonwealth Fund, a private agency. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) was formed under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2012). This public agency operates by setting up four …show more content…
For example, the AHRQ’s program design of Team STEPPS requires a nurse to voice their concern if they see a potential error in patient care. After the concern is voiced, then the team must stop patient care and address the concern (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2012). Many hospitals after implementing this program have tremendously improved patient safety within their organization. Also, nurses and advanced practice nurses will need to be familiar and comfortable with documenting their patient care electronically in computers due to AHRQ’s initiatives on Health Information Technology, which mandates all hospitals to merge into electronic patient care records (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2012). This process will promote patient centered care by allowing providers to easily transfer patient records between one another. The Commonwealth Fund will also impact daily patient care for nurses. The formation of the State Action on Avoidable Rehospitalizations (STAAR) program, mandates a nurse will need to provide verbal and written discharge instructions along with a new reconciled medication list for patients. Also, nurses are required to follow-up with patients after hospital discharge, which has prevented numerous hospital readmissions (Commonwealth Fund, 2012). Also, nurses and advanced practice nurses will have to perform quality nursing care based on new processes based off of evidenced base practices from high performing
Given the highly competitive nature of today’s markets we as a company must provide high quality products to survive. Quality itself has become a major competitive factor and in many ways is a contributing factor in success or failure. The intent of this memo is to identify, explain and evaluate the three types of cost associated with quality.
AHRQ (The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) which is the nation's lead federal agency for research on health care quality, costs, outcomes, and patient safety. In this website I found out best
Today we will have the pleasure of learning about the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This government agency is tasked with improving safety, quality, effectiveness and efficiency in the health care system. We will examine the role of this governmental regulatory agency and the impact it has on the health care industry, current laws and regulations being faced by the AHRQ and the impact these laws and regulations have on providers and hospitals. Once we are done learning, we will all be able to relate situations we see or have seen in our own lives and communities.
Historically, a BSR was given verbally at the nursing station with frequent interruptions, taped on the recorder or a written paper report without the patient being involved in their care. As the healthcare industry has become more of a patient-centered, the hospitals are participating in a publicly reported government HCAHPS survey- a composite scale score that measure patient’s hospital experience through a metric satisfaction survey. An effective handoff is critical when transferring any medical information of a patient’s continuity of care from one nurse to another. According to the Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality: “all health professionals should be educated to deliver patient-centered care as members of an inter-disciplinary team, emphasizing evidence-based practice, quality improvement approaches, and informatics.” (IOM, 2013). This paper analyzes an overview of nurse’s survey, direct observation on the BSR, a literature summary, nursing challenges and recommendations that might improve patient safety and quality of care.
In healthcare system the highest quality medical care means” the greatest benefit to patients at the lowest possible cost” (Burke & Ryan, 2014, p. 3). “The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) defines quality health care as doing the right thing for the right patient, at the right time, in the right way to achieve the best possible results” (NCQA, p. 3) According to American college of physicians, the single most reason for the health care cost is higher healthcare spending. There are several factors involved in the high health care cost such as inappropriate use of technologies, lack of patient centered care, overuse of the reimbursement, excessive price for health care facilities, increased organizational cost, and health accountability are some of the reasons for increased health care cost. In order to decrease the cost, the available health resources be used judiciously and equitably. Understanding these factors and identifying the potential factors of health care costs assists in providing quality and effective services and thus improves the health outcomes (ACP, 2009).
Ransom, E. R., Joshi, M. S., Nash, D. B., & Ransom, S. B. (Eds.). (2008). The healthcare quality
For over 10 years, all areas of industry have been investing in informational technology (IT). IT offers faster and more proficient care especially for the healthcare industry. Health information technology (HIT) is making significant changes in how care is being delivered and addressed for patients and healthcare workers. HIT includes electronic health records (EHR), personal health records (PHI), electronic prescribing and more. The potential list is endless. HIT provides for more accurate and efficient documentation, prescriptions, and education. The Obama administration came up with an answer to help in HIT by instituting the meaningful use. This paper will discuss the overview of meaningful use, its’ core criteria, and recommendations for additional criteria.
In the journal article, The Impact of an Integrated Electronic Health Record Adoption on Nursing Care Quality, they discuss how technology can improve quality of care. With electronic health records, nurses can document while at the bedside. Their study confirms that the use of electronic health records can improve patient quality of care (Walker-Czyz, 2016.)
The goal in healthcare today is to achieve better patient outcomes. Technology is changing daily that affects how patient care is provided. As the world around us continues to move into a more advanced technology based healthcare system incentives are offered to qualifying healthcare entities, provided they are utilizing approved health information technology (IT) to comply with standards set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) (Jones, Rudin, Perry, & Shekelle, 2014). Standards such as meaningful use help ensure with the use of electronic health records (EHR) that patients are receiving quality care (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], n.d.). This paper will define and discuss the importance and implications of meaningful use relating to healthcare. Several key points will be discussed including an overview of meaningful use, analysis, further recommendations and a conclusion.
The transformation of health care through the use of Health Information Technology continued with the passing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, which mandated the integration of physician quality reporting and Electronic Health Record reporting. This Act required the creation of measures and reporting of the “meaningful use of the electronic health record” and “quality of care furnished to an individual.” In doing so, the law directly links the adoption of the electronic health record with quality of care to the patient. This entails coordination which the Act requires the use of electronic health
I would like to bring to your attention three types of costs when quality considerations are made here at Acme Catsup Company. The first costs would be our failure costs. The second would be our appraisal costs. The third is the cost of prevention.
Quality measures are strategies that gauge, evaluate or compute health care processes, results, discernments, patient insight, and administrative structure. In addition, quality measures are frameworks that are connected with the capacity to deliver first-class health care and/or that are able to identify with one or more quality objectives for medicinal services. These objectives include: compelling, protected, effective, quiet focused, impartial, and opportune consideration. Quality measures can be used to measure quality improvement, public reporting, and pay-for-reporting programs specific for health care providers (CMS.gov, 2016). There are an assortment of quality measures in which health care organizations can use to determine the status of the care they are delivering. Many are appropriate, but few are chosen for this research paper. Among them are: National Health Care Surveys, Hospital IQR Programs, Scorecards, and Political, Power, and Perception/Data for Decision-making tools.
The organization implemented its new name, the Agency for Health Research and Quality on December 6, 1999, and was created as a result of the Health Research and Quality Act of 1999 (Info,). The National Center for Health Services Research was created on July 23, 1979. This program, established by the United States Government, was responsible for conducting research pertaining to health services which aided in paving the way for the creation of the AHRQ (allgov). When it was first established in 1989, the AHRQ had a ten-year life-span and its mission was to “Support research designed to improve the quality, safety, efficacy and effectiveness of health care for all Americans.”
The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe two health information and communication technologies (HICTs) and how they aid nurses in supporting safe, quality care, facilitating continuity of care and care coordination, and partnering with patients and families to increase participation in health care. HICT involves electronic creation, storage, exchange, and analysis of health information to advance delivery of health care. Widespread use of HICT within the healthcare industry can achieve the following goals: improve healthcare quality and safety, reduce costs and health disparities, enhance clinical research, and ensure security of patient health information (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015). Several examples of HICTs include: electronic medical record systems, electronic prescribing, consumer health applications, and telehealth (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], 2015). Integration of HICTs in healthcare settings is valuable for all clinicians, but most importantly nurses as they are primary caregivers.
In today’s medical field technology plays a big role when it comes to patient care. Technology is huge when it comes to giving the patient the best type of quality care when they are in the hospital. In the old days people would just write it down on a sheet of paper and record it by hand, which caused mistakes. Now with the Electronic Health Record those mistakes are drastically declining. Statistics have shown that using the Electronic Health Record has lowered Nursing mistakes as well as improved patient care. Our society has progressed through the years and has been introduced with the Electronic Health Record which has drastically improved our health care system. The Electronic Health Record provides great communication between