Business Case Quality for Athens Medical Center
A cost reduction, and high quality healthcare delivery are paramount to the values of a healthcare organization. Typically, a cost reduction is driven by operational quality, and clinical improvement leading to removal of harm, variation and waste. The objective of this paper is to present a business case to achieve quality improvement for Athens Medical Center to deliver optimal quality improve patients outcomes. Moreover, the business case develops the implementation plan to enhance the quality of healthcare delivery for our Medical Center. The implementation plan will focus on health education for diabetes patients. After 6 months of the plan implementation, the paper previews that 50% of diabetes patients who receive the health education will record a lower HA1C by 1 point. At least, 25% of the patients will be able to lower their HA1C by 2 points. (Homer et al., 2004, Swensen et al., 2013).
Situational Analysis
I work at Athens Medical Center located in the New York City and operating with 1,119 beds. The Athens Medical Center specializes in providing healthcare services for patients suffering from diabetes and endocrinology problems. The hospital also provides healthcare services to patients suffering from heart failure, knee replacement, hip replacement and other complicated healthcare problems. While the Athens Medical Center is committed to quality healthcare delivery, the hospital has recorded the lowest score in term of quality healthcare delivery in New York City. Comparative analysis of the Athens Medical Center with other healthcare organizations in the United States reveals that the hospital has scored low with reference to safety surgery operations. Moreover, the hospital also scores low mark with reference to their safety procedure. Shortage of highly qualified healthcare professional is one of the problems facing the hospital. The overall safety score for our hospital is below the national average required by the federal government. Our hospital safety scores are very low compared to the safety score recorded by the best hospital in New York. As being revealed in the table 1, there is wide gap for the safety core for our hospital (168.28) compared to the safety score of a best performed hospital (56.31) with reference to number of death from the treatable serious complications. The data in Table 1 reveal that our hospital performs below average with reference to the HAIC level fir diabetes patients.
The low safety score can affect our productivity and increase our cost of operations. For example, the low score may lead to a decline of patients patronizing our organization. Our hospital may face challenges to break-even because of the low quality score. With our current quality problem, Athens Medical Center can face the risks of lower reimbursement from Medicare based on the federal government reimbursement program. (Goudreau, & Smolenski, 2014).
Table 1: 2015 Safety Score
Measure
Our Hospital’s Score
Worst Performing Hospital
Avg. Performing Hospital
Best Performing Hospital
Time Period Covered
Dangerous object discovered and left in patient’s body
0
0.404
0.03
0
2011-2013
Gas or Air bubble in the blood
0
0.117
0.003
0
2011 -2013
Patient falls
0.297
2.636
0.55
0
2011-2013
Patients HA1C level
1.593
2.185
0.45
0
2014-2014
Infection in urinary tract during stay
0.531
3.611
1.06
0
2014-2014
Surgical site infection after surgery
1.448
3.296
0.95
0
2013-2014
Dangerous bed sores
0.42
1.79
0.32
0.03
2012-2014
Death from treatable complications
56.31
2012-2014
Collapsed lung
0.3
0.63
0.39
0.18
2012-2014
Serious breathing problem
13.57
24.29
12.08
4.11
2011-2013
Dangerous blood clot
5.43
10.12
4.18
1.17
2012-2014
Surgical wound splits open
1.65
2.89
1.7
0.86
2012-2014
Accidental cuts & tears
1.45
3.91
1.8
0.26
2012-2014
The identification of the problem makes this project to design a new program that will assist our hospital to improve safety procedure and improve total safety score and quality assurance.
Proposed Program
The table 1 reveals that there is wide gap between our HAIC score and best performing hospital for our diabetes patients. The new program intends to improve HAIC of patients by lowering the patients’ HAIC by 1 point using the health education. The program preview that 50% of the diabetes who receive health education patients will be able to lower their HA1C by 1 point. At least 25% of the patients will lower their HA1C by 2 points. (Homer et al., 2004, Swensen et al., 2013). Essentially, health education is an effective tool that can employed to reduce the HAIC of patients. The program will educate patients the benefit of weekly physical exercise, the type of food that should be eaten, and medication to reduce their HAIC level. This program focuses on diabetes patients because diabetes is the major cause death among older adults. Moreover, diabetes can cause kidneys, nerve, and heart complications, which can consequently lead to death. (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2003). Since diabetes has no cure, an effective physical exercise is the strategy that can be employed to reduce manage diabetes. Using the health education to make patient understanding the benefits of physical exercise, the patients will be able to reduce the HAIC level. Zoeller (2007) argues that 12-week aerobic physical exercise can assist diabetes patients to control their Glycemic with a modest reduction of HbA1c by 0.66%.
Implementation Plan
A major strategy that can be employed to make the implementation plan be successful is to hire more nursing staff who will deliver health education to patients. Moreover, the organization will implement the training program for nurses to enhance their greater understanding of health education. However, the management of our Medical Center still need to approve the project because they need to approve financial resources needed to approve the plan. To enhance a timely implementation of the plan, the study intends to present the plan to the administration by April 2016, and the paper presumes that the administration will approve the plan within two weeks because the management depends on the plan to increase their quality score index that has been downgraded in the healthcare environment. After the program approval, the plan implementation will be approximately 6 months to cover all the require agenda of the program. To seek for the support of other stakeholders within the hospital, the paper suggests that management will need to educate the entire staff on the program benefits since the goal of the program is to improve our health quality score. The improvement of the health quality score is very important for all the staff because our hospital will be able to improve their market advantages within the healthcare environment after the program implementation. After the program approval, the management will disburse the $117,000 as the program costs, which will start in July.
Evaluation Plan
There are a number of ways in which the proposal will be evaluated and measured to ascertain the effectiveness of the program. The paper presumes that all 65% of patients who receive health education will be lower their HA1C level by 1 point within 3 months. Within 6 months, it is presumed that 75% of the patients will be able to lower their HA1C by 1 point. The evaluation are appropriate to ascertain the program achieves its intended goal. (Finkler, Jones, & Kovner 2013). Moreover, we will collect feedback from the patients to ascertain that they are satisfied with the program. The paper will use the survey method to collect feedback from patients who receive health education, the results will assist in ascertain the effectiveness of the program.
Return on Investment
The paper uses the return on investment (ROI) to understand whether the hospital will break even after the program. The ROI calculates the costs of the program and the revenue received from the customers. The paper calculates the ROI by dividing the total revenue by total costs, and the results is 1.55, and outcome of the ROI reveals that we will achieve benefits from the program.
Conclusion
The paper proposes the health education program to improve our quality score based on the decline of safety score. The health education is to improve the HAIC of the patients suffering from diabetes. The program will cost $117,000 and the revenue to be derived from the program is $181,000 revealing that the program will improve our quality score.
References
Bailit, M., Dyer, M. B. (2004). Beyond bankable dollars: Establishing a business case for improving health care. The Commonwealth Fund.
Finkler, S. A., Jones, C. B., & Kovner, C. T. (2013). Financial management for nurses and executives (4th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Goudreau, K. A. & Smolenski, M. C. (2014). Health policy and advanced nursing practice. New York, NY: Springer.
Henriksen, K., Battles, J. B., Keyes, M. A., Grady, M. L., Hagg, H. W., Workman-Germann, J., … & Doebbeling, B. N. (2008). Implementation of systems redesign: approaches to spread and sustain adoption.
Homer, C., Iles, D., Dougherty, D. et al. (2004). Exploring the business case for improving the quality of health care for children. Health Affairs, 23:15.
Institute of Medicine. (2008). Creating a Business Case for Quality Improvement Research: Expert Views, Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 13Y17.
Leatherman, S. et al. (2003). The Business Case for Quality: Case Studies and Analysis. Health Affairs, 22(2), 17-30.
Public Health Agency of Canada (2003) Diabetes in Canada, Public Health Agency in Canada.
Swensen, S. J., Dilling, J. A., Mc Carty, P. M., Bolton, J. W., & Harper Jr., C. M. (2013). The business case for health-care quality improvement. Journal of patient safety, 9(1), 44-52.
Zoeller, R. (2007). Physical Activity: The Role of Physical Activity and Fitness in the Prevention and Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. 1(5): 344-350.
Appendices
Appendix 1
Executive Summary
The main objective of this paper is to outline a business case for quality improvement for our healthcare organizations. The program focuses on the health education for diabetes patients to improve their HAIC level. The program is very essential based on our health safety score in the healthcare environment. The program costs will be $117,000 and it is presumed that we will generate $181,000 from the program. The program will assist our organization to improve their quality score and enhance their competitive market advantages.
Appendix 2: Budget
Item
Quantity
Cost per Item
Total Costs
Total Revenue
$181,000
Personnel
30
90,000
Telephone Costs
1
Stationary
1
Training Costs
3
15000
Software
1
Physical Space
1
Total Costs
$117,000
$117,000
Revenue
$36,000
ROI
1.55
Appendix 3: SWOT Analysis
Strengths
1. Increased employee satisfaction
2. Improve the HAIC level of patients Healthier personnel
Weaknesses
1. Can become costly for the organization
2. May take much of employee time
Opportunities
1. Improve our safety score
2. Increase our ROI
3. Improve our market advantages
Threats
1. Employee may threat switching to other organizations because of the increase in work burden.
Appendix 4: Gantt chart
ID
Task
July
August
September
October
November
December
1
Structure of Patient Education
1,1
Nursing Training
1,2
Program Implementation
1,3
Implement Advance and Guidance
1,4
Develop patient questionnaire
1,5
Send questionnaire
1,6
Training Program
1,7
Evaluation
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