Question

Explain in one or two paragraphs what identifies a specific health care organization for analysis. Note: ‘for profit’ organizations will be easier to research based on data availability due to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting requirements.

Answer 1

The quality of health care organizations can be assessed by various methods.The overall aim is to evaluate the quality of care rendered by the organization.According to world heatlth organization the quality of the health care institutions can be identified through evaluating the outcome measures.It includes different variables that assess quality of care as well as cost effectiveness.

The most important outcome measures Includes

1. Mortality rate - inpatient mortality rate is an indicator if quality health care.Usually health care organizations conduct monthly mortality meetings to evaluate the causes of the rates.
2. Safety of care- Patient safety is assessed here by checking rate of hospital acquired infections like catheter associated UTI,ventilator associated pneumonia,decubi dec ulcers etc
3. Readmission- Readmission of a patient within a short duration after discharge is a negative indicator of quality.It reflect some defecit in treatment and expected recovery.It increases the cost of care as well as decrease patient satisfaction.
4. Patient experience- It reviews the quality if care in terms of patient satisfaction.It reflects the opinion of the society too.
5. Effectiveness of care- It can be assessed by the patient condition after receiving treatment,the changes in his health status that is recovery from illness is assessed here.
6. Timelines of care- It indicated early initiation of treatment .It is more important in ER ,if there is more number of individuals prioritization is required at the same time everyone should get attention within short period of time.Early diagnosis can create good patient outcome.
7. Efficient use of medical imaging - Some times medical imaging is essential to identify the underlying causes of symptoms and to intervene it effectively within golden hours .For example in case of suspected head injury CT or MRI of brain is essential to rule out intra cranial bleed.Also judicial use of imaging as and when required is essential.Un necessary use of imaging to increase hospital profit should be avoided.

The essentials for successful healthcare outcome measurement Includes data transparency,integrated care with transition of care and data interoperability that is communication between the various departments.

Analysis of quality of health care , that is rendering of quality and efficient heatlth services to varied sections of the community at a competitive cost is the tool to identify health care organizations.