Patient-centered medical home in a qualified federal healthcare center - Term Paper Example

? Proposal Paper Number Identifying Why This Health Care Issue Is of Interest and Reasons for the same One of the healthcare issues that stand out in the quest to achieve a patient-centered medical home in a qualified federal healthcare center is the need to introduce fixed-salary policy. The importance of the fixed-salary policy is seen in its usefulness in eradicating the conventional system where physicians are paid according to the number of patients they have treated. While the conventional system has been instrumental in inculcating dexterity among physicians and nurses, its downside is that it weakened the patient-physician interaction, yet patient-physician interaction is one of the fundamental requirements of a patient-centered medical care. The conventional system of determining physicians’ remunerations undercuts the patient-physician interaction since it compels physicians to try to attend to as many patients as possible, in the bid to boost their pay. Conversely, the need to patient-centered medical care is not only limited to the medical home in a qualified federal healthcare center, but in the entire healthcare sector. The issue of making healthcare services more patient-centered is important since it touches on the very ethics that govern the issuance of medical services. For instance, a patient-centered medical care is important since it ensures that the medical attention and services being extended towards the patient are safe and of standard quality. Similarly, even reputable scholars such as Carr (2011) are categorical that it is impossible to respect ethical issues of healthcare such as informed consent and the observation of the physician-patient contract without factoring the need for patient-centered medical care. The issuance of safe and quality medical attention cannot be practiced if the patient is not placed at the center of the medical services provision. The import of this is that it is only through the patient-centered approach that evidence-based practice can be practiced. Likewise, there can never be the dispensation of quality medical services provision in the absence of evidence-based practice (EBP). Again, there cannot be adherence to EBP without evidence-based research. Developing a Rationale Using Evidence-Based Research If the need to make medical services provision more patient-centered is to be acknowledged, then adherence to evidence-based research (EBR) is mandatory. This is because EBR established the best available evidence in both alternative and complementary medicine. EBR is important since it provides physicians with information which relates to the matter being solved through medical intervention. The background The Federal Qualified Healthcare Center (FQHC) is on the verge of making major decisions on the way it administers medical treatment, with the main intention of making the medical institution more patient-centered. FQHC is categorical that the best way of making its medical services is to embrace the use of EBR, as a way of determining the best way of establishing patient-centered treatment. Statistical findings Statistical findings confirm the relationship between the observation of EBR and success in making the rendering of healthcare services more patient-centered. This is also seen in the fact that in healthcare institutions which have practiced EBR, customer satisfaction is always high. Probable Stakeholders The stakeholders that are likely to be primarily affected by FQHC’s move are the creditors, investors, FQHC’s owner(s) and employees. Others who may be affected by this proposed move include suppliers, patients, the government and even the surrounding community. Though both groups have a stake in the proposed policy changes, the first group may share in the liabilities that may stem from these adjustments and must therefore be consulted lengthily. Logical conclusions The logical conclusion herein is that since statistical findings confirm: the relationship between the practice of EBR and success in making the rendering of healthcare services more patient-centered; and EBR-practicing healthcare institutions and optimal customer satisfaction, it is most plausible that by adopting the use of EBR, FQHC will have its services become more patient-centered. Designing an Implementation Plan for the Project Introducing the use of EBR in the provision of healthcare and the fixed-salary policy as the conduits to help nurture patient-centered treatment is a very radical shift which must therefore be communicated to the all the stakeholders and meticulously implemented. This communication in turn needs a proper plan. A Communications Plan According to Viets (2009), before the introduction of the EBR and the fixed-salary policy as approaches to inculcating patient-centered treatment in FQHC, it is important that FQHC’s stakeholders are brought into a meeting to discuss the changes that are about to be made. Measures are to be put in place to ensure that the meeting is a dialogue that will facilitate a vibrant exchange of ideas, in lieu of a monologue. The use of meetings is to be complemented by other means of communication such as conference calls and videoconferencing. The use of conference calls and videoconferencing will go a long way in reaching even stakeholders who are barred from conventional meetings by time and geographical distance. On one hand, conference calls will also help eradicate extra costs of communication, due to the flat rate conferencing services which give limitless access to conference bridges at monthly costs. Videoconferencing on the other hand will help in conveying audiovisual communication. Other avenues of communication such as emails, posters, newsletters and internal memos are to be also used, but are to be restricted to rally the stakeholders to the main meetings. The widespread use of emails, posters, newsletters and internal memos and their fast nature in relaying information make them applicable in disseminating information, but their use is not tenable in communicating new organizational approaches and policies that need elaboration and persuasion. Creation of a Design and Implementation Team by Roles It is a fact that in the attempt to integrate the use of EBR to the administration of treatment in FQHC, several bottlenecks will be encountered. One of the setbacks will be the scarcity of the information that is to be used as part of the EBR. By scarcity, it is meant; the need to search for the information to be used as part of the EBR, since such kind of information will not avail itself, but will only be arrived at through research investigation. Researching this information may also come with financial implications (Carr, 2011). The setback divulged upon above, can be best solved by having skilled researchers working with FQHC. Their expertise will help parry away the need to outsource or to hire frequently, and thereby helping in the eradication of high (employee) turnover. Financial reserves may also be set aside in the preceding financial statements to facilitate changes that will come up with EBR practices such as research studies. In another wavelength, even after the research results have been arrived at, giving the research findings critical appraisals may pose a serious challenge. The magnitude of this problem is that even if the research activity and its findings are correct, they may be rendered useless by an inchoately executed critical appraisal. This may stand in the way of implementing EBR into everyday use. This problem may also be solved by having a team of skilled and experienced researchers working with FQHC. The skills and experience will go a long way in ensuring that critical appraisals have been correctly done on the research work and its findings (McQueen, 2001). Another factor that may stand in the way of implementing EBR is resistance among FQHC’s employees. This may happen directly as physicians or nurses consciously resist the adoption of EBR practices and other forms of patient-centered medical care. Conversely, this may also take place as employees rue the facing out of the old system which acknowledged competitiveness in the determination of emoluments, for the new system which is more centered on the welfare of the patient. This problem is best handled by first communicating the changes in the offing, so that FQHC’s rank and file can be acquainted with them. Secondly, it will be important for FQHC to integrate as closely as possible, its employees to the changes that are in the pipeline. This will help the physicians, nurses and other employees to feel as part of the changes and to embrace them, instead of viewing the same changes as a source of threat. References Carr, V. L. (2011).Integrating Evidence-Based Design and Experience-Based Approaches in Healthcare Service Design. Health Environments Research & Design Journal (HERD), 4 (4), 12-33. McQueen, M. J. (2001). Overview of Evidence-Based Medicine: Challenges for Evidence-Based Laboratory Medicine. Clinical Chemistry, 47 (8), 1536-46. Viets, E. (2009). Lessons from Evidence-Based Medicine: What Healthcare Designers Can Learn From the Medical Field. Health Environments Research & Design Journal (HERD), 2 (2), 73-87. Read More