Assessment 1& 2 due 10/05

ASSESSMENT 1 & 2

Assessment 1 & 2 Due 10/05/17

· As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend or family member, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.

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· What local, state, or federal health care policies or laws set benchmarks and standards reflected in performance dashboards common in your professional area of practice?

· What are the potential challenges or opportunities for health care organizations or interprofessional teams in meeting prescribed performance benchmarks and standards? Factors you might consider include the organization's mission, its size and resources, operational policies and procedures, and the population the organization serves.

· Preparation

For this assessment, you may choose one of the following three options for a performance dashboard to use as the basis for your benchmark evaluation.

Option 1: Dashboard and Health Care Benchmark Evaluation Simulation

If you decide to use one of the simulation dashboards for your evaluation, review both dashboards, as well as the relevant local, state, and federal laws and policies linked in each dashboard. Choose one of the dashboards and consider the metrics within it  that are falling short of the prescribed benchmarks.

Option 2: Actual Dashboard From a Professional Practice Setting

If you choose an actual dashboard from a professional practice setting for your evaluation, be sure to add a brief description of the organization and setting that includes:

· The size of the facility that the dashboard is reporting on.

· The specific type of care delivery.

· The population diversity and ethnicity demographics.

· The socioeconomic level of the population served by the organization.

Note: Ensure that your data is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant. Do not use any easily identifiable organization or patient information.

Option 3: Hypothetical Dashboard Based on a Professional Practice Setting

If you have a sophisticated understanding of dashboards that are relevant to your own practice, you may also construct a hypothetical dashboard for your evaluation, based on that setting. Your hypothetical dashboard must present at least four different metrics, at least two of which must be under-performing the relevant benchmark set forth by a federal, state, or local laws or policies. In addition, be sure to add a brief description of the organization and setting that includes:

· The size of the facility that the dashboard is reporting on.

· The specific type of care delivery.

· The population diversity and ethnicity demographics.

· The socioeconomic level of the population served by the organization.

Note: Ensure that your data is HIPAA compliant. Do not use any easily identifiable organization or patient information.

Report Requirements

Structure your report in such a way that it would be easy for a colleague or supervisor to locate the information they need. Be sure to cite relevant local, state, or federal health care laws or policies when evaluating metric performance against prescribed benchmarks. Cite an additional 2–4 credible sources to support your analysis and evaluation of the challenges in meeting the benchmarks, the potential for performance improvement, and your advocacy for ethical action.

Note: The tasks outlined below correspond to grading criteria in the scoring guide.

In your report, be sure to:

· Evaluate dashboard metrics against the benchmarks set by local, state, or federal health care laws or policies.

· Which metrics are below the mandated benchmarks in the organization? Evaluate weaknesses within the entire set of benchmarks.

· What are the local, state, or federal health care laws or policies that set these benchmarks?

· Analyze challenges that meeting prescribed benchmarks can pose for the organization or for an interprofessional team.

· What are the specific challenges or opportunities that the organization or interprofessional team might have in meeting the benchmarks? For example, consider:

· The strategic direction of the organization.

· The organization's mission.

· Available resources:

· Staffing.

· Operational and capital funding.

· Physical space.

· Support services (any ancillary department that supports a specific care unit in the organization, such as a pharmacy, cleaning services, and dietary services).

· Cultural diversity in the organization.

· Cultural diversity in the community.

· Organizational processes and procedures.

· How might these challenges be contributing to benchmark underperformance?

· Evaluate a benchmark underperformance in the organization or interprofessional team that has the potential for greatly improving overall quality or performance.

· Which metric is underperforming its benchmark by the greatest degree?

· Which benchmark underperformance is the most widespread throughout the organization or interprofessional team?

· Which benchmark affects the greatest number of patients?

· Which benchmark affects the greatest number of staff?

· How does this underperformance affect the community the organization serves?

· Where is the greatest opportunity for improvement in the overall quality or performance of the organization or interpersonal team—and ultimately in patient outcomes?

· Advocate for ethical action in addressing the benchmark underperformance that has the potential for greatly improving overall quality or performance.

· At which group of stakeholders should your advocacy be directed? Which group could be expected to take the appropriate action to improve the benchmark metric?

· What are some ethical actions that the stakeholder group could take that support improved benchmark performance?

· Why should the stakeholder group take action?

· Communicate your findings and recommendations in a professional and effective manner.

· Ensure that your report is well organized and easy to read.

· Write clearly and logically, using correct grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.

· Integrate relevant sources to support your arguments, correctly formatting source citations and references using current APA style.

· Did you cite relevant local, state, or federal health care laws or policies when discussing the mandated benchmarks?

· Did you cite an additional 2–4 credible sources to support your analysis, evaluation, and advocacy?

ASSESSMENT 2

· Draft a written proposal and implementation guidelines for an organizational policy that you believe would help lead to an improvement in quality and performance associated with the benchmark metric for which you advocated action in Assessment 1.

Note: Each assessment in this course builds on the work you completed in the previous assessment. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.

In advocating for institutional policy changes related to local, state, or federal health care laws or policies, health leaders must be able to develop and present clear and well-written policy and practice guidelines change proposals that will enable a team, unit, or the organization as a whole to resolve relevant performance issues and bring about improvements in the quality and safety of health care. This assessment offers you an opportunity to take the lead in proposing such changes.

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

· Competency 2: Analyze relevant health care laws and regulations and their applications and effects on processes within a health care team or organization.

· Propose a succinct policy and guidelines to enable a team, unit, or the organization as a whole to implement recommended strategies to resolve the performance issue related to the relevant local, state, or federal health care policy or law.

· Competency 3: Lead the development and implementation of ethical and culturally sensitive policies that improve health outcomes for individuals, organizations, and populations.

· Recommend ethical, evidence-based strategies to resolve a performance issue related to health care policy or law.

· Competency 4: Evaluate relevant indicators of performance, such as benchmarks, research, and best practices, for health care policies and law for patients, organizations, and populations.

· Explain the need for creating an organizational policy or practice to address a shortfall in meeting a prescribed metric benchmark.

· Competency 5: Develop strategies to work collaboratively with policy makers, stakeholders, and colleagues to address environmental (governmental and regulatory) forces.

· Analyze the potential effects of environmental factors on recommended strategies.

· Identify colleagues, individual stakeholders, or stakeholder groups who should be involved in further development and implementation of proposed policy and guidelines and recommended strategies.

· Competency 6: Apply various methods of communicating with policy makers, stakeholders, colleagues, and patients to ensure that communication in a given situation is professional, clear, efficient, and effective.

· Communicate a proposed policy and guidelines and recommended strategies in a professional and persuasive manner, writing content clearly and logically, with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

· Effectively support arguments with relevant sources, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style.

· As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.

Consider the underperforming metric you evaluated in your Dashboard Benchmark Evaluation in Assessment 1 as having the potential to greatly improve the overall quality or performance of a team or the whole organization.

What ethical, evidence-based strategies would you recommend to resolve the performance issue related to the underperforming metric you evaluated?

· What does the literature suggest are potential strategies to improve performance for your targeted benchmark?

· How would these strategies ensure improvement or compliance with the relevant local, state, or federal health care policy or law?

· How would you propose to apply these strategies in the context of Eagle Creek Hospital or your own practice setting?

· How would you ensure that these strategies are ethical and culturally inclusive in their application?

· Preparation

After reviewing your benchmark evaluation, senior leaders in the organization have asked you to draft a policy change proposal and practice guidelines addressing the benchmark metric for which you advocated action.

In their request, senior leaders have asked for a proposal of not more than 2–4 pages that includes a concise policy description (about one paragraph), practice guidelines, and 3–5 credible references to relevant research, case studies, or best practices that support your analysis and recommendations. You are also expected to be precise, professional, and persuasive in justifying the merit of your proposed actions.

When creating your policy and guidelines it may be helpful to utilize the template that your current care setting or organization uses. Your setting's risk management or quality department could be a good resource for finding an appropriate template or format. If you are not currently in practice, or your care setting does not have these resources, there are numerous appropriate templates freely available on the Web.

Proposal Requirements

Note: The tasks outlined below correspond to grading criteria in the scoring guide.

In your proposal, senior leaders have asked that you:

· Explain why a change in organizational policy or practice guidelines is needed to address a shortfall in meeting a performance benchmark prescribed by applicable local, state, or federal health care laws or policies.

· What is the current benchmark for the organization? What is the numeric score for the underperformance?

· How might the benchmark underperformance be affecting the quality of care being provided or the operations of the organization?

· What are the potential repercussions of not making any changes?

· Recommend ethical, evidence-based strategies to resolve the performance issue.

· What does the evidence-based literature suggest are potential strategies to improve performance for your targeted benchmark?

· How would these strategies ensure improved performance or compliance with applicable local, state, or federal health care laws or policies?

· How would you propose to apply these strategies in the context of your chosen professional practice setting?

· How would you ensure that the application of these strategies is ethical and culturally inclusive?

· Does your policy encompass the key components of your recommendations?

· Analyze the potential effects of environmental factors on your recommended strategies.

· What regulatory considerations could affect your recommended strategies?

· What organizational resources could affect your recommended strategies (for example, staffing, finances, logistics, and support services)?

· Are your policy and guidelines realistic in light of existing environmental factors?

· Propose a succinct policy and guidelines to enable a team, unit, or the organization as a whole to implement recommended strategies to resolve the performance issue related to the relevant local, state, or federal health care policy or law.

· Identify colleagues, individual stakeholders, or stakeholder groups who should be involved in further development and implementation of your proposed policy, guidelines, and recommended strategies.

· Why is it important to engage these colleagues, individual stakeholders, or stakeholder groups?

· Do your proposed guidelines help colleagues, individual stakeholders, or stakeholder groups understand how to implement your proposed policy?

· How might engaging these colleagues, individual stakeholders, or stakeholder groups result in a better organizational policy and smoother implementation?

· Are your proposal and recommended strategies realistic, given the care team, unit, or organization you are considering?

· Communicate your proposed policy, guidelines, and recommended strategies in a professional and persuasive manner.

· Write clearly and logically, using correct grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.

· Integrate relevant sources to support your arguments, correctly formatting source citations and references using current APA style.

· Did you cite an additional 3–5 credible sources to support your analysis and recommendations?