Consumerism in the Healthcare Industry - Special Academic Support

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Difference between performance measurement and quality improvement processes

Performance measurement refers to the process through which a firms outputs are quantified to determine the implementation and effectiveness of the various organizational strategies. Performance measurement aids in determining whether a firm programs are efficient in addition to analyzing the deviation between the actual and the desired outcome. For example, firms in the health sector can undertake performance measurement using various frameworks to determine the efficiency of the healthcare programs. Performance measurement can either be in financial or non-financial terms.

Quality improvement process refers to the various steps which a firm undertakes in an effort to analyze its performance with the objective of determining how to improve its performance. There are a number of steps which a firms quality manager can consider in an effort to improve quality. The first step should entail an understanding of the clients expectations. An evaluation of the organizations current performance should be undertaken. This aids in identifying the performance improvement targets. The process also involves analyzing the current process, selecting the most appropriate way to improve the performance, implementing the desired improvement, assessing the results, and solidifying the outcome.

Type of care in Veteran Affairs, its mission and quality improvement goals

According to Niles (2011, p.137), there are three main types of care offered by firms in the healthcare industry. In its operation, the organization appreciates the importance of offering comprehensive healthcare to the citizens. In order to achieve this, healthcare organizations offer a wide range of healthcare which includes primary, secondary and tertiary care. The organization considers these healthcare services to be a core element in its quest to provide quality healthcare to the citizens. The firms primary care mainly focuses on services such as family practitioners, psychiatrists, emergency medical physicians, and gynecologists. Through the provision of primary care, the organization is able to provide the patients with easy access to healthcare services. Its secondary care entails those healthcare services which require the intervention of specialists (for example, routine surgery). On the other hand, tertiary care relates to care that is offered on complex conditions such as organ transplant and heart surgery.

The organizations mission is to honor all US veterans and their family by offering them quality healthcare services. In an effort to improve its performance, Veteran Affairs has integrated a quality improvement strategy which is aimed at facilitating networking amongst various facilities in the country. This has been achieved through incorporation of a computerized summary display referred to as the LinKS Dashboard (Elmodorf, 2010, p.20). This system ensures efficiency in giving feedback with regard to performance of various VA facilities. In addition, the technology is also aimed at enabling the firm attain its goal of high efficiency with regard to monitoring patients in ICU and others who require acute care.

Role of consumers; patient, family and friends in quality improvement

Considering the fact that the objective of VA is to serve its clients efficiently, it is vital for the management team to understand the consumers expectations. Consumers usually select where to receive their health care from. In most cases, they will go to firms which offer high quality healthcare. It is possible to gain such information from comparative performance data available publicly. This leads to the emergence of a virtuous cycle through their consumption pattern which entails choosing healthcare firms characterized by high performance. For example, the selective nature of the patients motivates the healthcare firms to improve the quality of their healthcare products.

The patients also play a significant role in the development of quality improvement plan by healthcare organizations. For example, patients usually undertake a wide range of preventative actions by visiting healthcare providers. As a result, they enable the healthcare organizations to develop effective healthcare plans.

As a source of data upon which healthcare providers base their performance, patients contribute in defining the quality parameters which the organizations have to utilize. In addition, the patients can give feedback on the quality of service provided thus giving an opportunity to healthcare providers to undertake quality improvement.

External quality indicators are available to consumers regarding that organization

Patient choice-This is one of the external indicators that consumers use to encourage quality improvement amongst healthcare firms. If the quality of healthcare services is low, there is the high probability of the patients complaining. As a result, the organization has no option by to improve on its quality.

Accountability-In their operations, most healthcare providers are accountable to a number of parties such as the stakeholders in such activities as the purchases of the services and the community. In the event that the provider is not operating efficiently, these stakeholders will hold it accountable (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, 2010, p.3).

Oversight-Healthcare providers are monitored by a number of regulators including the federal and state regulators. These regulators have set quality standards that healthcare providers must adhere to. Failure to adhere to these standards may result in legal consequences.

Stakeholder feedback

In an effort to be effective in quality improvement, VA has instituted an electronic program that enables the various stakeholders such as the patients to communicate their opinion to the management team. As a result, the firm is able to identify gaps in the quality of service provided to patients and also offer suggestions on how best to improve it. This increases the organizations efficiency in formulating quality improvement plans.

Reference List

Elmendorf, D. (2010). Quality initiatives undertaken by Veteran Health Administration. New York: DIANE Publishing.

Niles, N. (2011). Basics of the U.S healthcare system. Sudbury, M.A: Jones and Bartlett.

Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. (2010). Improving value in health care. Measuring quality. New York. OECD.

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