Health Care Quality Management and Outcomes

Organizational Performance Management Paper and Table

HCS/451
April 20, 2013

Introduction

Health Care Quality Management and Outcomes

Health care organizations are becoming more unstable and because of this dynamic
healthcare organizations are faced with greater risks and errors that lead to poor patient care and
negative patient outcomes (Baker, Day, and Salas, 2006). For that reason, many different
organizations are forced to work together as a team to provide continuous care for these patients.
Hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitative centers, physician offices, and home health care agencies
all must communicate with one another if they want to see continuous performance
improvements in not only the organization as a whole but also see improvements in the care that
is given to those that they serve.
The communication between these different organizations is crucial if organizations want
to ensure that they are in compliance with state and federal laws and ensure that the goals and
objectives are met on a continuous basis. The team will address the similarities and differences
among the many different types of health care organizations and propose how each organization
will improve organizational performance. In addition, the team will also describe how these
groups will communicate with leadership to ensure alignment of goals, buy in from staff to
achieve compliance, and determine how compliance contributes to organizations overall
performance- management system.
Similarities and Differences Among Each Organization
There are various similarities and differences between the five organizations that have
been selected for this paper. Each organization selected provides a unique type of care for
patients. The first organization is St. Judes Childrens Research Hospital. This facility provides
care to pediatric patients that have cancer or some other catastrophic disease. ("About St.
Jude", n.d.). The second organization is the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
According to "About Us" (n.d.), "The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is one of

Health Care Quality Management and Outcomes

the nations largest and most renowned military medical centers. They provide services not only
to active duty military and their families, but also for our countrys veterans, returning war
heroes and our countrys leaders. The third organization is Brookdale Senior Living Solutions.
This facility provides a variety of services such as hospice care and in-home health care for the
elderly. The fourth organization is the Midtown Medical Center. This facility provides services
for cancer patients, women and childrens health and rehab for patients of all ages, ("About
Midtown Medical Center", n.d.). The last organization is the Womens Birth and Wellness
Center. This facility provides services to women that are at different stages of their life from
puberty to menopause. They also provide services for prenatal care, birthing, and post-natal care,
("Women's Primary and Preventative Care", n.d.).
The similarities between the five organizations are the age group of the patients that are
seen there. St. Judes, Midtown Medical Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
and the Womens Birth and Wellness Center all see children. The Walter Reed National Military
Medical Center, Brookdale and Midtown Medical Center provide care to elderly patients. The
organizations that see patients of all ages are the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
and Midtown Medical Center.
The differences between the organizations would be that all of them cannot provide care
for anyone of any age or gender only some of them do. The Womens Birth and Wellness Center
only provides care for women. St. Jude only provides care for children with cancer or some other
cataclysmic ailment. In order to be seen at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, you
must be affiliated with the military in some manner. At Brookdale Senior Living Solutions, they
cannot provide care for anyone other than the elderly. The Midtown Medical Center is the only
facility that will see anyone of any age with any ailment. No other facility provides that type of

Health Care Quality Management and Outcomes

service without some stipulation. Health care organizations must be monitored to keep its
standards and comply with the regulations set by the government and their policies. There is also
a need for quality improvement through actions that lead to quantifiable indicators and
enhancement in health care practices.
How each Organization will Monitor Performance Achieve Regulatory and
Accreditation Compliance and Improve Overall Organizational Performance
A leading advisor in improving the countrys healthcare quality is the Institute of
Medicine, which ensures that delivery of health care is improved each time. The principles of
Quality Improvement have four parts: QI Work as a Systems and Processes, Focus on Patients,
Focus on Team, And Use of Data. The organization needs to understand its processes and how
the organization delivers. Resources are addressed together with the activities or processes in
order to have the improved results. The next principle is on the organizations focus on patients
where their needs and expectations for their health care services are met. This includes the
systems that directly and indirectly affect patient access, safety environment, patient
engagement, coordinate care with other networks, and provision of care based on evidence.
Next is the focus of being on a team. This is needed for every member of the organization
if they want to see that the goals are being met. Every member of the team must have and
acknowledge the skills and capacities of each other to make lasting improvements. It is important
to keep in mind that no one person knows every issue and its solution. Lastly, there is the focus
on data and how this data can be used by the organization for further improvement. This includes
the comparison of theoretical to practical events, baseline, monitoring of changes and effects,
and comparison of performance. Data allows an organization to maintain its standards and
improve on the aspects that need further improvement.

Health Care Quality Management and Outcomes

The QI program helps an organization to observe, evaluate, and plan to ensure quality
delivery of health care. This program involves cyclical activities that could be monitored and
changed if found ineffective. The cycle could also be replicated in other areas also to improve on
their own and serve as a model.
Each organization has different goals to achieve, within their specialties for the patients
that they serve. However, the primary goal is standard, and that is to provide the best and safest
quality health care to patients that an organization can provide without risks. Communication is
the key in achieving these standards. Leadership must effectively communicate the goals of the
organization to management and staff. Management and staff must understand the goals of the
organization and what their contribution is as it relates to meeting the goals of the organization.
Management should also research the best tracking tool to use to be able to track the progress of
their department.
Ways which organizations will Communicate with Leadership to Ensure Alignment
of Organizational Goals and Gain buy-in from Staff to Achieve Compliance with the
Standards and Requirements Issued by Regulatory and Accreditation Bodies
One tracking tool that can be used to report information to leadership would be the use of
a scorecard. A scorecard is an evaluation and a dashboard tool used for collecting and reporting
information in reference to customers. The scorecard is a tool that gives the standards that health
care facilities are measured against. Metrics such as dashboard or scorecard helps the leadership
to determine if risk management is effective within the organization. This is a way of
communicating risk managements progress to leadership. The Deming cycle is another good
way of tracking progress used in a health care facility. The Deming cycle has four cycles; plan,
do, check, and act. This tracking tool is a good way for managers to plan out what changes they

Health Care Quality Management and Outcomes

need to do in their departments in order to meet the organization goals. Once the plan is executed
the managers will then communicate it to their staff. After that management needs to check the
progress, evaluate the progress and make necessary changes to the original plan based on
progress. These are just two examples of ways that managers can communicate the progress
within the organization to the leaders.
Meeting the goals of achieving standards and requirements that are essential is possible
for all health care facilities if the organization has strong leadership from managers, who
communicates the organization goals and expectations and who commits to regular monitoring.
If this is done, the organization will benefit.
How Compliance with the Regulations and Development of Risk- and QualityManagement Systems for Each Type of Organization Contribute to the Organization's
Overall Performance-Management System
The expectations of providing the best quality health care and services are high in the
health care environment. The government has enacted and imposed the implementation of
federal rules and policies as a result of violations involving patients and other health care
resources. Risk management and quality management have shared fundamental processes
concerning care and services by scrutinizing, auditing, and generating actionable plans for the
patients benefits.
Risk management, quality assurance, and corporate compliance come into play by
presenting methods to provide health care providers with the tools for the measurement of
performance using general and acceptable standards. The compliance of rules and regulations
can make the difference in how they are implemented and the provision of rendering service.

Health Care Quality Management and Outcomes

Quality assurance refers to the processes of self-examination where authoritative persons or

individuals review potential problems and patterns that need further investigation.
The Office of Inspector General under the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services lays the foundation for its requirement of strict corporate compliance in health care
organizations. The OIG sets the stages of a compliance plan aimed to identify regulatory
requirements and areas of noncompliance concerns for providers and health care organizations of
all types, sizes, and services. It includes strong components and foundations in the areas of
auditing, reporting, and education including whistleblower protection. Corporate compliance
may interlink with quality assurance, but contain a comprehensive and wider view toward the
compliance of regulatory guidance, policies, and reimbursement concerns. It has an element of
transparency especially towards its annual requirement and audit. The government and
interested stakeholders hope that the compliance process will lead to the evaluation and report of
violations consequential to the education of the public leading to remedial or corrective,
actionable-procedural measures. The quality assurance committee, on the other hand, test risk
areas internally and may maintain its confidentiality. The interlinking of the areas of risk
management, corporate compliance, and quality improvement will significantly contribute to the
effective measure of the performance management system.
Conclusion
There are many different health care organizations that are in operation today that
provides various health care services to individuals. Each health care organization provides
different services to meet the needs for those particular patients and because of the complexity of
some patients health many of these organizations are forced to work together as a team to
provide continuous care to these patients. In order that quality of care and services are given to

Health Care Quality Management and Outcomes

the patient every time they visit any of the different organizations these organizations must
ensure that they are in compliance, and that they are meeting the standards set up by the
government, and that particular organization. They must also certify that the necessary tools are
used to guarantee that the patients health is not put on hold due to the delay of treatment from
poor data capturing, and tracking tools. If organizations would like to see continuous
improvements in patient care, safety, and outcomes they must unite and work as one, and that no
organization can do it alone.

References

Health Care Quality Management and Outcomes

About Midtown Medical Center. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.columbusregional.com/ColumbusContentPage.aspx?nd=2053
About St. Jude. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.stjude.org/about
About WRNMMC. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.wrnmmc.capmed.mil/About

%20Us/SitePages/Home.aspx
Baker, D. P., Day, R., & Salas, E. (2006). Teamwork as an Essential Component of HighReliability Organizations. Health Services Research, 41(4 Pt 2), 15761598. Doi:
10.1111/j.1475-6773.2006.00566.x References
Collins, Howard L., Quality Assurance, Corporate Compliance, and Risk Management:
Overlapping but not Identical Tools. (Geriatric Nursing, May/June 2008). Retrieved
from http://www.ober.com/publications/229-quality-assurance-corporate-compliancerisk-management-overlapping
QualityImprovement(2015).HealthResourcesandServicesAdministration.Retrievedfrom
http://www.hrsa.gov/quality/toolbox/methodology/qualityimprovement/
Risk Management Handbook for Health Care Organizations, Student Edition, Chapter 15: Risk
Management Metrics, Author: Roberta L. Carroll, Copyright John Wiley & Sons Inc.
(2009)
Senior Living Solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.brookdale.com/senior-livingsolutions/
Women's Primary and Preventative Care. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://ncbirthcenter.org/