Quality Assurance Plan
The quality of services offered in a nursing home defines its national ratings. According to Singh (2009), developing a quality assurance plan may help in improving the standards of services offered within these homes. In this plan, the researcher has identified specific items that will be included to help improve the quality of service delivery at this institution. The first item will be the maintenance of a high degree of cleanliness in this home. When conducting reviews, officials responsible for rating nursing homes always focus on the issue of hygiene at such institutions. This plan will not require any additional financial resources. The current team responsible for cleaning will have to double their efforts to achieve this objective. The second item will be the quality of service offered to the individual clients at this institution. This will require additional six nurses to be hired. It will require an additional $ 10,800 per month given that the monthly earning of a nurse is set at $1,800. The management will also make an effort to boost the morale of all the employees in the firm to improve their efficiency.
Implementing the plan will require additional funds. This nursing home relies on payments from private clients and reimbursements from the government based on the cost of maintaining Medicaid and Medicare clients. The management can identify some areas where costs can be cut to implement the suggested plan using the earnings from the reimbursements and payments from private clients. The hospital should enter into a strategic partnership with nearby hospitals to ensure that its clients can access medical services there. This way, it will eliminate the costs of rendering specialized medical care to these clients. It will only focus on providing quality nursing care to the clients.
Managing a Chain-Affiliated 110-Bed Facility
My superior officer aims to ensure that there is an increased cash flow into the firm from the payments made by the private-pay clients. However, this may be an unethical practice that may harm the ratings of this facility, especially if we are forced to turn away very needy clients. To address this issue, I will explain to my superior that the suggested move is not strategic in the long term. I will convince him that the move will paint a negative image of the firm that will not only harm the national ratings but also scare away private-pay clients that we are aiming to attract. The only way of increasing the number of private-pay clients is to improve on our service delivery. We should aim at promoting the popularity of this facility within the state or even nationally. With a good name, the reimbursements we receive shall increase and more patients will be coming for our services. Our capacity shall increase and so will the cash flow from private-pay clients. The proposal will help the firm achieve its long-term plans.
Medicare will pay for speech therapy, especially for those who are covered under Medicare Part A and B. However, Singh (2009) explains that this cover does not pay for personal services. The main reason for this is that people have different lifestyles and the cost of personal needs may not be universal. It is also more likely that people may abuse this cover by engaging in unnecessary expenses.
References
Singh, D. (2009). Effective Management of Long Term Care Facilities. Sudbury: Jones & Barlett.