Measuring Care Quality

Measuring Care Quality

Quality Care Report

As the new director of operations, I have reviewed potential measures of care quality for our midsize regional hospital to consider. This report outlines examples of structural, process, and outcome measures, discusses their associations and potential financial benefits, and recommends the best fit measures in each category for our hospital.

Structural Measures of Care Quality

Nurse-to-patient ratios: Quantitative measure tracking patients per nurse (Phillips et al., 2021). Lower ratios improve outcomes and satisfaction.

Specialized equipment availability: Measured quantitatively and qualitatively. Improves diagnostic and treatment capabilities (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019).

Electronic health record (EHR) implementation: Assessed by percentage of records in EHR and system functionality. Enhances coordination and reduces errors.

Process Measures of Care Quality

Evidence-based protocol adherence: Percentage of cases following established protocols (Connor, 2023). Linked to better outcomes.

Patient wait times: Includes emergency department and test result wait times. Reduced patient wait times improve satisfaction and enable earlier interventions.

Medication reconciliation completion: Percentage of patients with medications reviewed at key points (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). This reduces adverse events.

Outcome Measures of Care Quality

30-day readmission rates: Indicate effectiveness of initial treatment and discharge planning (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019).

Patient-reported outcomes: These assess patients’ perspectives on health status and care quality.

Hospital-acquired infection rates: These reflect safety practices and overall care quality.

Associations and Financial Benefits

These measures are, therefore, connected with the structural having an effect on the process, which, in turn, changes the outcome. If staffing and equipping are adequate, the quality of evidence-based care can be delivered in a timely fashion and improve the eventual outcome for the patient.

While structural improvements can demand investment at the starting end, they can be long-term savings. Structures of EHR systems can decrease errors and offer better coordination that can help in reducing malpractice costs and other unnecessary procedures.

Process improvements are relatively low-cost but normally bring good value for money. Proper following of protocols and shortening of waiting times can reduce hospitalization time and thereby reduce complications (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). As a result, this helps reduce the overall cost.

It generally makes one bottom line: positive outcomes translate into financial benefits. Reducing readmission rates averts Medicare penalties while reducing infection rates lowers treatment costs and improves reimbursement—some payers do not cover costs for preventable infections.

Best Fit Measures for Our Hospital

Considering the size, regional focus, and characteristics of our hospital, the following measures are best in class in each category.

Structural: Implementation of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) System

As a medium-sized hospital, our facility stands to gain hugely from improved coordination of care and reduced errors that a sound EHR system offers (Aguirre et al., 2019). It will support the hospital’s growth and improvement of capability in the efficient delivery of quality care.

Measure: Process—Adherence To Evidence-Based Care Protocols

This measure is well suited to the hospital’s size and scope; it provides the ability to standardize how care will be delivered across departments, thus assuring that the hospital provides the most up-to-date and effective treatments for common conditions in our patient population.

Outcome: 30-Day Readmission Rates

This measure is especially meaningful to a regional hospital such as ours because it picks up the quality of the care provided during the acute stay and effectiveness at coordinating post-discharge care with other local health care providers and community resources (Gupta et al., 2019).

These measures offer a good balance between the assessment of quality of care and its improvement. They capture the key dimensions of our operations, link with national health care quality priorities, and clearly connect to patient outcomes and financial performance. Our hospital will be better equipped to improve care delivery, increase patient satisfaction, and strengthen its positioning as a recognized health care provider within the region.

References

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2019). Types of health care quality measures. Ahrq.gov. https://www.ahrq.gov/talkingquality/measures/types.html

Aguirre, R. R., Suarez, O., Fuentes, M., & Sanchez-Gonzalez, M. A. (2019). Electronic health record implementation: A review of resources and tools. Cureus, 11(9). https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.5649

Connor, L. (2023). Evidence‐based practice improves patient outcomes and healthcare system return on investment: Findings from a scoping review. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 20(1), 6–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/wvn.12621

Gupta, S., Zengul, F. D., Davlyatov, G. K., & Weech-Maldonado, R. (2019). Reduction in hospitals’ readmission rates: Role of hospital-based skilled nursing facilities. Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, 56, 004695801881799. https://doi.org/10.1177/0046958018817994

Phillips, J., Malliaris, A. P., & Bakerjian, D. (2021, April 21). Nursing and patient safety. Ahrq.gov. https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primer/nursing-and-patient-safety

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We’ll write everything from scratch

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For the next 5 weeks, you will have a project that will begin in Unit 1, continue through all units, and end in Unit 5. Your discussion and project will be connected each week, so you must complete your discussion work on time.

Unit #	Topics
Unit 1	Measuring care quality
Unit 2	Effective leadership strategies
Unit 3	Effective strategies aimed at improving organizational performance
Unit 4	Ethical and legal dilemmas are common in healthcare settings
Unit 5	Evaluate current and emerging healthcare strategies

You are the new director of operations for a midsize regional hospital. You have been asked by the senior executive team to review the efficiency and effectiveness of several areas of the hospital’s operations and to prepare a series of short reports on your findings to be included in the annual report to the Board of Directors. The annual report is used to set the hospital’s goals and objectives for the next 3 years. The first report will be a Quality Care Report.

Your Quality Care Report will contain the following:

• Describe in detail 3 examples each of possible structural, process, and outcome measures (quantitative and qualitative) of care quality that your hospital might consider.
• Outline how these measures are associated and any possible financial benefit(s).
• Of your examples for each of the three areas (i.e., structural, process, and outcome), is there one example for each that you feel is the best fit for this hospital? Why?

Deliverable Requirements: Your Quality Care Report must be at least 5 pages on care quality. Be sure to cite sources using APA properly; include references and in-text citations. Use section headers as needed to organize the information. Professional writing and formatting are essential. The title and reference pages do not count as part of the 5 pages.

Submitting your assignment in APA format means, at a minimum, you will need the following:

• Title page: Remember the running head. The title should be in all capital.
• Length: 5 pages minimum
• Body: This begins on the page following the title page and must be double-spaced (be careful not to triple- or quadruple-space between paragraphs). The typeface should be 12-pt. Times Roman or 12-pt. Courier in regular black type. Do not use color, bold type, or italics, except as required for APA-level headings and references. The deliverable length of the body of your paper for this assignment is 5 pages. In-body academic citations to support your decisions and analysis are required. A variety of academic sources is encouraged.
• Reference page: References that align with your in-body academic sources are listed on the final page of your paper. The references must be in APA format using appropriate spacing, hanging indent, italics, and uppercase and lowercase usage as appropriate for the type of resource used. Remember, the Reference page is not a bibliography but a further listing of the abbreviated in-body citations used in the paper. Every referenced item must have a corresponding in-body citation.

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