Question

As the new chief executive officer (CEO) of the Mucho County Healthcare System, you had earlier noticed that the hospital system was not accredited and certified to participate in some vital healthcare programs within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Prepare a PowerPoint presentation for all staff members of the Mucho County Healthcare System to acquaint them with accreditation and certification of healthcare organizations and their influence on healthcare delivery, patient experience, and care outcomes. In your presentation, address the following areas:

• Describe the benefits of accreditation and certification on health service delivery.
• Explain the role of The Joint Commission in the accreditation of hospitals.
• Describe the general areas of operation where quality standards must be met for the accreditation of healthcare organizations.
• Critique how these quality standards support health information sharing, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance, and patient experience.
• Recommend what the Mucho County Healthcare System should do.

Answer 1

Qn: Describe the benefits of accreditation and certification on health service delivery.

Answer:

Accreditation is the formal recognition by an authoritative body of the competence to work to specified standards. Accreditation is usually a voluntary program in which trained external peer reviewers evaluate a healthcare organization's compliance and compare it with pre-established performance standards. This continuing quality control process occurs usually every five to ten years.

Certification represents a written assurance by a third party of the conformity of a product, process or service to specified requirements.

Benefits on health service delivery

• Accreditation to a health care organisation stimulates continuous improvement of the organization
• It enables in demonstrating commitment to quality care.
• It raises community confidence in the services provided by the health care organisation.
• It provides opportunity to healthcare unit to perform the best.
• There is also a focus on continuous quality improvement strategies that promote safe and high quality healthcare.
• Provides assurance to the community that the organisation meets expected patient safety and quality standards.
• .Helps determine if an institution meets or exceeds minimum quality standards.
• Improves the public accountability.

Qn: Explain the role of The Joint Commission in the accreditation of hospitals.

Answer:

The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit group in the United States that administers voluntary accreditation programs for hospitals and other healthcare organizations.

• The Joint Commission standards provides the foundation for healthcare organizations to enhance their performance.
• The Joint Commission accreditation manuals defines safety culture as the product of individual and group beliefs, values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behavior that determine the organization's commitment to quality and patient safety.
• The mission of The Joint Commission is to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value.
• The accreditation improves the overall quality of care in healthcare facilities.
• In certain specialty areas, accreditation programs even improve patient outcomes.
• The standards ensure that patients will receive consistent, excellent care throughout the health care facility.
• Accrediting agencies like the Joint Commission can also revoke a hospital's accreditation, which would have the effect of cutting off Medicare funding and many private insurers' funding.
• The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value.

· Qn: Describe the general areas of operation where quality standards must be met for the accreditation of healthcare organizations.

Answer:

Quality standards set out the priority areas for quality improvement in health and social care. They cover areas where there is variation in care. Each standard gives a set of statements which helps to improve quality.

The general areas that must be met for accreditation are management, staffing, health and personal care, living environment, resident lifestyle, , catering, cleaning, continuous improvement, and safety and security.

Standards helps the health service organisations for the effective quality improvement and patient safety initiatives into their daily operations

· Qn: Critique how these quality standards support health information sharing, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance, and patient experience.

Answer

• The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a federal law that required the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient's consent or knowledge. It will protects the patients right.
• The components of HIPAA are keeping patient data safe requires healthcare organizations to exercise best practices in three areas: administrative, physical security, and technical security
• The standard quality standards in the organization provides a basic for keeping the HIPAA rule upgrade. Its ultimate aim is to provide a positive patient experience.
• The presence of quality standards functions to:
  • Conduct a self-assessment or audit of HIPAA compliance.
  • Identify and document all deficiencies discovered.
  • Create remediation plans to address specific deficiencies.
  • Ensure all Business Associates are HIPAA-compliant
• As an integral component of health care quality, patient experience includes several aspects of health care delivery that patients value highly when they seek and receive care, such as getting timely appointments, easy access to information, and good communication with health care providers.
• If the organization have basic accreditation, it will maintain all these standards and the organization works properly in accordance with the needs of the patients.

· Qn: Recommend what the Mucho County Healthcare System should do.

Answer:

One of the weaknesses revealed at the Mucho County Healthcare System is the lack of training, motivation, and empowerment of staff. This resulted in a series of problems at the Mucho County facilities.

The recommendations are:

• The system should empower the staff team
• Provide adequate training
• Enroll the significance of a well-trained team in solving healthcare problems