Nowadays, people have an excess of various sources that can provide them with reliable information regarding their health conditions. People are constantly looking for high-quality assistance in the healthcare industry to avoid misunderstandings and be sure that in case of a problem, they always have enough time to think about possible strategies and treatment plans. The cost of quality can be poor and good, and healthcare organizations should avoid low service quality to protect their future (Schuster et al., 2017). Cost of conformance usually shows the avoidance of problems like poor training, lack of planning, and equipment maintenance. When workers have enough knowledge to support their systems and provide patients with high-quality assistance, quality costs become approved. However, the cost of non-conformance is usually caused by lack of education, errors in medical records, instrument downtime, and missing medications. In this case, medical employees of such healthcare companies suffer from complaints from patients.
The cost of quality can be defined as direct and indirect as well as internal and external. According to Schuster et al. (2017), external and internal costs are also known as soft and hard costs. Hard costs are usually visible, and it is easy to calculate them as they include wages, wasted equipment, and losses from failed events. However, soft costs are less obvious, and they have reputation problems and rude relationships of workers with patients. It is complicated to calculate losses caused by soft costs as healthcare centers should work for several years to receive clear feedback from customers. Customers can be affected directly and indirectly when the soft and hard cost calculation is conducted. For instance, lack of medical equipment due to losses affects patients negatively as waiting time increases, and people cannot receive needed treatment due to missing medications or kits. Indirect influence can be mentioned when patients receive poor communication with healthcare workers. This aspect makes people stressed, and they usually have to look for other places where they can receive similar treatment or consultation.
Reference
Schuster, M. A., Onorato, S. E., and Meltzer, D. O. (2017). Measuring the costs of quality measurement. JAMA, 318(13), 1219-1220.