Abstract
The current paper discusses the impact of technological innovation, pay-for-performance, and evidence-based medicine to improve care quality and reduce costs. The study investigates the impact of the initiatives in coordinating care. The study also analyzes the adoption of Medicaid and Medicare in increasing care delivery across the country. The findings show that these initiatives may improve care quality and reduce costs.
Discussion
The current healthcare quality differs depending on the institution providing it. According to Mayberry, Nicewander, Qin, and Ballard (2006), significant gaps are noted in care provision that affects patient satisfaction and healthcare costs. In addition, reasonable costs influence care outcomes, creating a need for quality initiatives to handle the deficit (Yee, Lechner & Boukus, 2013). The present study explores the quality initiatives that increase patient satisfaction and potentially reduce healthcare costs.
It should be borne in mind that the effects of Medicare and Medicaid on the quality of healthcare are dubious at the very last. While the concept of insurance as the basis for healthcare services provided is rather reasonable, some of its aspects are quite controversial. For instance, the recent rise in the prices for job-based health insurance can be interpreted as a rather positive effect on the security of staff, as the CEOs of the ADP research Institute explain (Mangan, 2015).
In addition, the specified reforms have led to price transparency within the U.S. healthcare environment (DeLeire, Joynt & McDonald, 2014). As a result, the delivery of the corresponding health services is nowadays carried out in an entirely transparent manner. Hence, the threat of financial frauds, manipulation with medicine and, therefore, a drop in the quality of the corresponding services have been reduced, as the example of St. Michael’s Hospital (DeLeire et al., 2014) shows.
Thus, among the factors affecting the delivery of healthcare services in the corresponding facilities, proper financing and the provision of a required budget for buying proper equipment and medicine, hiring competent staff, etc., deserves to be mentioned first. However, one must not underestimate the significance of adopting the corresponding technologies for facilitating high quality within the healthcare facilities, either. Last, but not least, the issue of healthcare ethics and compliance with law needs to be brought up. For the staff to solve complex ethical dilemmas when addressing the needs of patients (i.e., the inability of the staff to get informed consent from a patient), a set of rigid and detailed regulations is required.
Adopting healthcare technology increases patient satisfaction and reduces the cost of healthcare (Mayberry et al. 2006). Information technology can create situational awareness to reduce potential health costs. Laser technology is an example of healthcare technology that hospitals have adopted to increase care quality. The technology has contributed to increasing customer satisfaction among cancer patients. Evidence-based medicine (EBM), in its turn, helps in the delivery of patient-centered care through efficient handling of patient records (Mayberry et al., 2006).
A patient-centered environment may help analyze evidence systematically to balance experience and training with supportive decisions (Mayberry et al., 2006). Pay-for-performance initiatives are systems that improve care quality by providing financial incentives to hospitals. Rewarding doctors and hospitals help care centers in making improvements to attain optimal patient outcomes (Mayberry et al., 2006). Pay-for-performance initiatives such as Medicaid and Medicare encourage the identification of programs that are most effective in healthcare.
As emergency care centers in America struggle with capacity shortages and increased care costs, change is required to handle walk-in patients, who are unable to schedule appointments (Yee et al., 2013). Most patients visiting urgent care facilities contract private insurers to cover the visits. Thus, Medicare or Medicaid are potential pay sources for urgent care centers and are adopted to make patient copayments. While urgent care centers do not take part in Medicaid because of the prerequisite for upfront payments from the uninsured (Yee et al., 2013), our care center has embraced it. Adopting Medicare and Medicaid will give incentive payments to the care center depending on several quality indicators. This will help the center provide high-quality treatments and surgical preventions at the center.
Reference List
DeLeire, T., Joynt, K. & McDonald, R. (2014). Impact of insurance expansion on hospital uncompensated care costs in 2014. ASPE. Web.
Mangan, D. (2015). Obamacare has ‘modest’ effect on job insurance costs: Study. CNBC. Web.
Mayberry, R., Nicewander, D., Qin, H., & Ballard, D. J. (2006). Improving quality and reducing inequities: A challenge in achieving best care. Baylor University Medical Center, 19(2), 103-118.
Yee, T., Lechner, A. E., & Boukus, E. R. (2013). The surge in urgent care centers: emergency department alternative or costly convenience? Health System Change. Web.