accounting question due wed 5/14 at noon mtn time

Performance Measurement in Health-Care

In an article by Richard Greene and Katherine Barrett, “Performance Measurement Improves the Quality of Health-Care,” it discusses more on how quality measures in the health-care systems transform most of the things such as billing practices and patient behavior. The overall framework for the analysis is to evaluate ignorance on quality measures and the focus of most health-cares on the reimbursement of hospitals and doctors, and also changing both consumer and provider behavior.

The measurement of the health-care quality has been a major issue for decades in the US. The Medicare, private sector and Medicaid have been attempting to provide quality health-care for some time. In Minnesota, there is a plan to provide reports to the public on quality measures and payment reforms. The physician clinics based in the hospitals will be compared with their performance rates in terms of quality and operating costs involved. The reimbursement and sharing of the consumer cost will be determined by the category of each physician. Those clinics with low cost and high quality performance will have a higher level of reimbursement; therefore, consumers will have less to pay on the services provided to them.

The incorporation of both expenses and quality is vital. Recently, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality did a study that showed consumers chose those hospitals that were costly since they have a false belief that it offers good services. The consumers did not know that they could go to a cheaper hospital yet get quality services. Specific measures can be effectively used to help certain physicians improve their outcomes. Professor Jack Meyer of the University of Maryland describes how a heart surgeon together with the chief of surgery worked together, the chief of surgery wanted the heart surgeon’s bypass operations to take longer time than those operations than those operations that were performed by other doctors. The action posed great danger to patients. The surgeon had no idea that he was posing great danger to patients.

Healthcare performance measures developed are consistent throughout the healthcare. The National Quality Forum, a private standard-setting body, formulates the performance measures. Federal programs use an estimate of 85percent of the NQF measures. The NQF has endorsed 75 percent of the measures used in Minnesota. The CEO and president of NQF, Janet Corrigan, alleged that it was crucial to have standardized measures in order to protect both the provider and the consumer. She also says that the work of the NQF is to help in setting priorities and reducing the reporting burden and data production on providers.

The application of quality performance measures in Minnesota helped improve the percentage of diabetic patients who received the right treatment to control diabetes. According to the graphical data provided the number of patients who received quality healthcare improved from 17.5% to 24.6%. The prevention and disease control centers data showed that an aggressive campaign on blood streams infection to the intensive care patients in the United States helped improve the practice with a 65 percent drop from the year 2001 to 2009. It gives a clear evidence of how quality measures help improve performance in the healthcare. Another study carried out in Wisconsin showed that those hospitals that scored low and took part in reporting their performance in public, progressed measurably with time.

Patients follow up after treatment is the main problem and also need to improve on the issue. It is difficult to get information about the progress of a patient after treatment or how the hospital contributed to their life quality. A state health economist, Stefan Gildemeister, in the department of health, in Minnesota, says that data reported to the public is inaccurate it compromises the relationship between the doctors and patients.

In conclusion, healthcare performance quality, performance and low cost on charges should go hand in hand. Physicians should ensure quality services to their customers and do a follow-up after treating them. Customers should also be able to evaluate the hospitals in terms of quality services and not cost. Nevertheless, clear advancement is being made.

References

Heinemann, G. D., & Zeiss, A. M. (2002). Team performance in health care: Assessment and development. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Pan American Health Organization (2012). Public health in the Americas: Conceptual renewal, performance assessment, and bases for action. Washington, D.C.: Pan American Health Organization.

World Health Organization (2000). Health systems: Improving performance. Geneva: World Health Organization.