Leadership Insights: Quality in Healthcare
Quality of Care is More Than a Concept
In the healthcare industry, quality of care is more than a concept – it is essential for resident well- being and financial survival. Providing quality services and outcomes is a necessary part of all businesses, not only in our nation, but around the world. For years, the World Health Organizationquality initiatives have influenced change in clinical processes and national initiatives by introducing health care outcome or performance based measurement systems, disease and chronic disease protocols and the ICD-10 classification system. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, there is a significant increase in the commitment to health and health care quality in our country. As our nation embraces theNational Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care, post-acute leaders need to understand and embrace this framework, which identifies our industry’s role in identifying and prioritizing quality improvement efforts for better resident outcomes. The National Quality Strategy has established three aims and six priorities for health care quality improvement. The strategies serve as a platform for the vast majority of the health care industry initiatives affecting the way we do business, such as readmissions, value based purchasing, linking quality with reimbursement, effective care transitions, quality measures, QAPI, public reporting, new health care delivery models, consumer satisfaction and engagement, as well as person centered care. Additionally, these strategies foster alignment across national, Federal (CMS and OIG to name a few), State and health care providers to improve health and health care quality. |
National Quality Strategy. THREE AIMS:1. BETTER CARE: Improve the overall quality of care, by making health care more patient-centered, reliable, accessible, and safe.
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2. HEALTHY PEOPLE/HEALTHY COMMUNITIES: Improve the health of the U.S. population by supporting proven interventions to address behavioral, social, and environmental determinants of health in addition to delivering higher-quality care.
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3. AFFORDABLE CARE: Reduce the cost of quality health care for individuals, families, employers, and government.
NATIONAL QUALITY STRATEGY’S SIX PRIORITIES:1. Making care safer by reducing harm caused in the delivery of care. 2. Ensuring that each person and family are engaged as partners in their care. 3. Promoting effective communication and coordination of care. 4. Promoting the most effective prevention and treatment practices for the leading causes of mortality, starting with cardiovascular disease. 5. Working with communities to promote wide use of best practices to enable healthy living. 6. Making quality care more affordable for individuals, families, employers, and governments by developing and spreading new health care delivery models. .
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Lisa A. Thomson
Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer
Pathway Health
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Source:
– 2013 Annual Progress Report to Congress: National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care; www.ahrq.gov.
– A Guide to Measuring the Triple Aim: Population Health, Experience of Care, and Per Capita Cost; www.ihi.org.
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