Healthcare Error-Tracking System - Assignment Example

Title: Healthcare Industry approach for addressing the vexing issue In the current discussions related with health care policy, issues related with medical errors have become a prominent topic of debate in USA. According to the well publish report of Institute of Medicine (IOM) USA, existing data over the mortality through the medical errors is summarized, which discusses about the potential sources of error and many strategies that are proposed for reducing the errors. Error-tracking system is proposed in the report, which is implemented in the study of bypass surgery. Error-tracking system, which is already implemented by the healthcare professional reports, based on the medical errors that are getting pervasive and is the main cause behind the death taking place in USA. The report has also presented that medical errors often takes place due to the systematic problems, while delivering the health care services, rather than while improving the performance of each individual. Health care industry is adopting different approaches, such as development of error-tracking mechanisms, extensive investigation, allocation of available resources for the initiative of error protection, and root cause analysis of the problem (Fialova & Onder, 2009). According to the ACA report, there are four approaches for mitigating the issues related with the healthcare profession, such as identification and understanding through the errors related with the voluntary and mandatory reporting systems, set up national efforts for enhancing the knowledge linked with the medical safety, increase in standards and expectations in order to bring improvements in safety through increasing involvement of medical professionals, and establishing delivery level safety systems within the healthcare organizations (Fialova & Onder, 2009). ACA report sparks the debate among the health policy makers at USA for appropriately responding to the problem. ACA improve its quality or made it worse through restricting the funds In America, lawmakers are putting more emphasis over the healthcare quality with the introduction of protection of patients and Affordable Care Act. Through the reduction in 30 days readmissions, American hospitals have started taking initiatives for fulfilling all the requirements, has even adopted best practices, which results in the improvement of healthcare quality and readmissions between the community providers and hospitals. From last few years, Affordable Care Act is bringing improvements in the healthcare quality by reducing the cost. In 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act; this law puts all the comprehensive health insurance reforms, which were rolled out in last four years. After the quality improvements made by ACA in 2010, a new Patient’s Bill of Rights was passed, whose aim is to protect the consumers from getting abuse by the insurance companies. Through this Act, Americans were able to get cost free preventive services (Key Features of the Affordable Care Act, By Year, 2010). The Act also provides Medicare, and 50% discounts on the brand name drugs. In 2012, with the helps of Accountable care organizations, several programs were started that supported the doctors and healthcare providers, who work towards delivering better care to the patients. The Act also aims to provide every American with the access to affordable health insurance options till 2014 (Key Features of the Affordable Care Act, By Year, 2010).The New Health Insurance Exchanges started under the ACA will permit individual and businesses to compare their health care services. The Act also give facility to the middle and low income families to cover their decisive part of cost, which is append of availing healthcare facility. ACA proposes the implantation of the nationwide mandatory reports including, public release of the performance data. ACA is also working to provide the quality assurance efforts and successful safety programs, which contributes in the quality improvement process (Key Features of the Affordable Care Act, By Year, 2010). High utilization of services contribution to the problem According to the United Nations Initiative taken in 1999, all the nations must prepare social, economic, healthcare systems for the present and future demographic ageing of countries population (Denham, 2005). As the older people are increasing in developed and developing countries, age group degenerative and multiple chronic disorders are highly ubiquitous. High use of medical services helps in reducing the medical errors, as it supports the organization in understanding the medical issues that has aroused in the healthcare sector. Many countries are establishing the Patient Safety Committee, and even working towards the development and adoption of safe procedures and protocols for changing the culture of an organization, educating the service providers and increasing the involvement of key leaders in the hospital and health care institutions. These efforts are taken by the organization in order to reduce the medical errors and improving the safety of the patients (Denham, 2005). Consumer expectations According to the report of Institute of Medicine (IOM), improvements are taking place in the quality of care and patient’s safety, when the medical institutions are pressurized. These institutions are expected to increase the throughput of the patients and pay malpractice premiums, increase operating costs, and collective bargaining to secure the contracts with health plans. According to the report of IOM, everyone deserves quality healthcare services and safety. However, patients are do not consider safety as a main dimensions of quality and take it for granted. Many patients think that healthcare is always safe, and this assumption has far reached implications on the physicians (Denham, 2005). This depicts customer’s has unrealistic expectations from the healthcare system. This unrealistic expectation of the customer, often set up physicians to feel ashamed, in case of any error and that can even create an adverse effect on the well being of the patient. Therefore, to avoid the culture of shame, practitioners disregard or hide the malpractice or medical errors; in result of that patients try to sue the medical institutions in case of errors. References Fialova, D. & Onder, G. (2009). Medication errors in elderly people: contributing factors and future perspectives. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 67(6), 641-645. Denham, C. R. (2005). Patient Safety Practices: Leaders Can Turn Barriers Into Accelerators. Patient’s Safety, 1(1), 41-55. Key Features of the Affordable Care Act, By Year. (2010). Retrieved November 10, 2012 from http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/full.html Read More