Cost And Quality Analysis Essay Discussion Paper
Select one public agency and one private agency and differentiate their roles and major activities in addressing cost and quality in health care.
The selected public agency is the Health Research and Quality agency. This is a federal agency whose mandate is to address safety, costs, care outcomes and quality issues that affect patients. Their intention is to ensure that the existing standards are acceptable and patients receive the best possible value given the existing technological and business realities. The agency is the research department for the US Department of Health and Human Services. Its functions and duties supplement those of the National Institute of Health with the two agencies working in concert to meaningfully improve the quality of health care and reduce the associated costs within the USA. The agency’s functions and duties revolve around six principal subjects. The first subject is its concern with improving the safety of patients and the quality of care they receive. The second subject is to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of care provided to the public. The third subject is to carry out comprehensive assessments of the existing clinical practice and medical technologies to ensure that they function as described and do not produce worrying negative effects. The four subject is evaluation of medical organizations and health delivery systems to ensure that the do not unfairly exploit the public members. The fifth subject is the assessment of primary care to ensure that it meets the set industry standards. The final subject is that it appraises the costs and sources of payment associated with the health care industry. It is important to note that the agency is a partner in scientific advancement that involves collaborating with both private and public agencies to select the best strategy for delivering, financing, managing and organizing the best quality care while reducing the incidences of care errors and improving the safety of patients (US Department of Health & Human Services, 2018)Cost And Quality Analysis Essay Discussion Paper.
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The selected private agency is the Institution for Healthcare Improvement. This is an independent non-profit agency that is concerned with collaborating with other agencies to reduce health care costs while improving quality. The agency is based in Boston, Massachusetts, and presents its objective as being concerned with using its capacity innovate, convenes, partner and drive health care improvements. It operates under the premise that every individual should receive the best possible care, and this is only possible if the focus remains on matching costs to quality. To be more precise, the agency focuses on five subjects in its operations. The first subject is to reduce per capita costs. The second subject is to improve care quality through driving affordability and sustainability. The third subject is to reduce harm to patients and preventing mortality through patient safety programs. The fourth subject is to apply patient-centered approach to care to ensure that all care decisions are focused on patients. The final subject is to invest in research activities that seek to improve health care (Institute of Healthcare Improvement, 2018)Cost And Quality Analysis Essay Discussion Paper.
Analyze current and projected initiatives to improve quality while simultaneously controlling costs. Describe any unintended consequences.
Health care quality improvement initiatives all acknowledge that although the ultimate concern is to achieve better care outcomes, this is not possible without controlling costs. Despite the existing aspirations, the economic reality is that improving care quality is an expensive exercise and someone must pay for that cost. This means that even as care quality improves, cost would also be expected to correspondingly increase. This is reflected in insurance premium plan with payments seen to rise when the plan covers better quality care. Given this reality, then it stands to reason that efforts to improve care quality would be expected to fail even before they can be implemented. For instance, improving care access by increasing insurance coverage would not effectively improve care quality as can be seen in the case of Obamacare that is in the cusp of failure. On the other hand, simply reducing costs through limiting the number of medical services that are accessible would also not effectively improve quality. This knowledge has resulted in quality improvement efforts shifting towards improving care delivery as a strategy that would improve quality without significantly increasing costs. This strategy recognizes that greater importance should be attached to the value that stakeholder forums can bring in terms of their views on how to improve care quality while simultaneously reducing or limiting costs. Ultimately, it should be noted that quality improvement efforts would still be limited by existing fee-for-service payments, the traditional business model applied by insurers, and health regulations (Ross, 2013)Cost And Quality Analysis Essay Discussion Paper.
Synthesize implications for staff nurses and advanced practice nurses, including evidence-based practice, relative to cost and quality.
Nursing personnel should comprehend that effectively reducing costs while improving care quality is possible if addressed from four perspectives. Firstly, they should evaluate the peripheral factors that influence care to include policies, payments, regulations and accreditation. Secondly, they should look into the facility-specific practices. Thirdly, they should evaluate how medical personnel function as teams and individuals. Finally, they should evaluate the patients’ experiences. It is not enough for nursing personnel to comprehend that care costs and quality can be improved through the four perspectives. Rather, they should also understand that work deployment and design can influence costs and quality. Ultimately, nursing personnel should accept that they cannot influence care quality and costs in isolation, and they would be best served by taking on leadership positions that allow them to shape the care environment (Duffy, 2013)Cost And Quality Analysis Essay Discussion Paper.
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References
Duffy, J. (2013). Quality caring in nursing and health systems: implications for clinicians, educators, and leaders (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Institute of Healthcare Improvement (2018). About IHI. Retrieved from http://www.ihi.org/about/Pages/default.aspx
Ross, T. (2013). Health care quality management: tools and applications. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
US Department of Health & Human Services (2018). What is AHRQ? Retrieved from https://archive.ahrq.gov/about/whatis.htm
In a paper of 500-1,000 words, describe the relationship between health care cost and quality. Address the following: Select one public agency and one private agency and differentiate their roles and major activities in addressing cost and quality in health care. See Topic 4 readings for sources regarding health care agencies. Analyze current and projected initiatives to improve quality while simultaneously controlling costs. Describe any unintended consequences. Synthesize implications for staff nurses and advanced practice nurses, including evidence-based practice, relative to cost and quality. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required Cost And Quality Analysis Essay Discussion Paper