PROVIDE A RESPONSE AND REMARKS TO THIS STUDENTS DISCUSSION POST BELOW:

One of the primary arguments for a QA Program is that there is a concern for ensuring that health services are both cost-effective and responsive to public needs.

However, other health care professionals believe that QA Programs are necessary to protect patients while under care in a health facility.

Which of the two statements above do you believe is the most important for patients?

What can we do to assure that both quality care and cost-effective programs are in place?

Which of the two statements above do you believe is the most important for patients?

In my mind there is no argument concerning cost effectiveness versus protecting patients and their safety. Sure, bed alarms are going to cost money, but what if a patient fell out of bed trying to get up and received a head bleed.

Now this patient will have additional radiology exams, additional length of stay, and possibly surgery. We all want health care to be cost-effective, but things that are going to keep a patient safe during their stay are a priority in my mind.

What can we do to assure that both quality care and cost-effective programs are in place?

Internally- Since hospitals know that quality assurance programs keep patients safe and save money, they implement continuous process improvement (CPI) measures to develop high quality patient care.

These teams continually monitor patient safety goals (like fall risk) and ensure healthcare workers are doing as much as possible to prevent serious safety events. When safety events do happen, healthcare workers are encouraged to speak up and identify areas of improvement on what went wrong in order to prevent these events from happening again.

Peer reviews are another tools to ensure quality and cost. If a nurse doesn't chart that she got her EKG within 10 mins of arrival for her chest pain patient then the she didn't meet quality standards. 10 mins is national standard time. Also if she didn't chart the EKG at all, then the coders may not bill for it. Peer reviews let healthcare workers know that someone is looking at what they chart, and on the other hand let them know what their co-workers are charting to keep up standards.

Externally- Hospitals are regulated by the Joint Comission to keep their quality measures up or they will loose their accreditation. Also, in 2008 Medicare and Medicaid stated they wouldn't reimburse for poor quality care such as catheter associated urinary tract infections caused during that stay.