Application: Quality Standards Comparison
For this week's Discussion, you examined guidelines proposed by organizations involved in health care quality and patient safety.Whereas many of the guidelines addressed in the Discussion may be considered optional or supplementary, CMS standards (core measures) set a precedent for health care organizations throughout the United States. The "Hospital Compare" Web site presents information on quality captured for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, including core measures such as Heart Attack Process of Care Measures, Heart Failure Process of Care Measures, Pneumonia Process of Care Measures, and Surgical Care Improvement Project Process of Care Measures.
To prepare for this Application:
• Peruse the Hospital Compare Web site: http://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html
Click on the link at the right, Learn More about Hospital Process of Care Measures, and read this background information.
Then read through the Process of Care measures at:
http://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/Data/Measures.html
• Evaluate the CMS standards (core measures).
• Compare the CMS standards with the guidelines proposed by one other organization of your choosing. (You may select the same organization you focused on in the Discussion, or choose a different one from that list.) Be sure to consider similarities and differences, as well as the strengths and limitations of each organization's guidelines.
The Assignment
Write a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses the following:
• Analyze the CMS standards (core measures).
• Compare the CMS standards with the guidelines proposed by one other organization. Based on this comparison, would you recommend that a health care setting adopt this organization's guidelines as supplementary to CMS's? Why or why not?
• Briefly analyze the relationships among various aspects of health care quality and safety, including the creation of standards, accreditation, certification, credentialing, and continuing education. Describe the benefits and constraints associated with these approaches for promoting quality.