Quality Improvement Email Essay

Quality management in healthcare facilities is organized to meet the needs of the organization. Today, most organizations have a program of continuous improvement in all functional areas. Data collection and analysis and resulting improvements have become an accepted way of doing business. An organization must address how it is going to achieve a successful Quality Improvement program (LaTour, p. 520). This paper is going to discuss the quality improvement in the health care industry along with stakeholders, roles, and resources to name a few. The purpose of quality management in the health care industry is to enhance the safety, efficiency and effectiveness of all businesses from health care processes and the performance of delivering products to human resources (The Purpose of QI Healthcare, 2014). The improvement is achieved using various methods, both qualitative and quantitative. With the passing of time, healthcare delivery has become more complex. There is a requirement for ne w and enhanced methods that will reduce costs and provide access to new technologies (The Purpose of QI Healthcare, 2014). Bringing a change into the system can facilitate the achievement of a new performance level. When a system remains unchanged over time and no enhancements are made, it cannot generate better results than the ones already created. The inefficient parts of the structure are replaced with new inventions that can prove to be worthy (The Purpose of QI Healthcare, 2014). Quality Management is needed because of competition. The primary goal is to beat the competition. It will add value at each stage of production defining long term plans for your company while at the same time providing a framework for it. The stakeholders define quality of care in various ways. Each stakeholder has different concerns relative to the  project’s objectives and goals (LaTour, p.808), which can translate, into different ratings of quality. â€Å"Exploratory interviews suggest that ratings are influenced by past experience, expectations, definitions of quality of care, and perceived power relationship s between stakeholders† (Campbell, 2004). Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has defined â€Å"stakeholders† as persons or groups that have a vested interest in a clinical decision and the evidence that supports that decision (The Effective Health Care Program Stakeholder Guide Chapter 3: Getting Involved in the Research Process). Stakeholders may be patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, advocacy groups, professional societies, businesses, policymakers, or others. Each group has a unique and valuable perspective. With quality improvement, there are roles that are involved. The leader’s role in promoting and developing quality improvement begins with creating and sustaining a personal and organizational focus on the needs of internal and external customers (Quality Improvement, 2014). A leader demonstrates a clear commitment to the organizational mission, values, goals, and expectation that promote quality and performance excellence through its actions. Key staff roles in a quality improvement p rogram are day-to-day leader, data entry person, provider champion, operations person, and data specialist. Monitoring provides the method to identify how the organization compares with the original opportunities for improvement and achieving those goals. (Wiley, 2007) Every area needs monitored because of providing every needs monitored because of providing patient can with any deficiency affect the entire hospital. Leaders determine the areas that need monitoring for improvement, monitoring the compliance of policies and procedures and standards for the hospital. The accrediting and regulatory agencies that are involved in the quality improvement process are The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). Joint Commission evaluates the quality of health care provided to the patient. They also requires that organizational leadership set expectations, plan, manage how to measure, assess, and improve in all aspects of providing care (LaTour, p.521). Another agency that is involved is the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which represents the federal funded agency that focuses on improving the health care. The federal government mandates the areas for monitoring for quality, for example, preventive care,  infection control, fall rates, and chronic disease management. (HRHA, 2013) National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) represents the accrediting agencies for the hospitals. It also evaluates the quality of health care provided to the patient. In conclusion, there are many resources for helping the improvement of quality. The patient, providers, nurses and management plays a part in the improvement that will guide to reach desired levels of performance. An organization that affects quality improvement is Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). AHRQ is the lead Federal agency charged with improving the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. (Quality Improvement Organizations) The accrediting and regulatory organizations protect the public the regular reporting quality measures of the health care facility. References: LaTour, K. (2010), Health Information Management Quality Improvement Organizations Retrieved from: http://www.aap.org/en-us/professional-resources/practice-support/quality-improvement/Pages/Quality-Improvement-Organizations.aspx Quality Improvement, Retrieved from: http://www.hrsa.gov/quality/toolbox/methodology/qualityimprovement/part2.html The Effective Health Care Program Stakeholder Guide: Chapter 3: Getting Involved in the Research Process. February 2014. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/evidence-based-reports/stakeholderguide/chapter3.html The Purpose Of Quality Improvement in Healthcare, Retrieved from: http://www.sixsigmaonline.org/six-sigma-training-certification-information/the-purpose-of-quality-improvement-in-healthcare.html Campbell, S. (2004) How do stakeholder groups vary in a Delphi technique about primary mental health care and what factors influence their ratings?