Quality Management in Hospital Corporation of America - Case Study Example

Quality management in health care organization has evolved and looks toward improving the patients care through cost-effective measures. The growing importance of quality management is because it is difficult to define quality. Since, quality is an interactive process between the patient and the hospital (TQM, 2010) the problem compounds for Hospital Corporation of America. The problem for Hospital Corporation of America is to identify the concepts that will improve quality and help to set the short-term and long-term goals that fall in line with the concepts. To identify the different approaches it is important to identify the internal and external environment which will help to draw a relation with risk management. Hospital Corporation of America looks toward quality management through the following steps Defining: identifying and defining the areas that Hospital Corporation of America needs to work upon to improve their image and ensure quality (QA, 2010) Designing: designing a process that will help Hospital Corporation of America to achieve quality by working on different areas (QA, 2010) Assessing: hospital Corporation of America assesses the different process to find the best option, which will help to improve quality management. Monitoring: hospital Corporation of America monitors the performance time and again and brings timely changes that help them improve quality in health care of patients (QA, 2010) The above process followed by Hospital Corporation of America falls in line with quality management as it looks into consumer awareness, improving the standard of health care and bringing more transparency in the process (Garud, 2000). To improve quality in patient care Hospital Corporation of America looks to integrate different concepts and approach and bring changes in quality management while rendering services. The different approach used by Hospital Corporation of America for quality management is as follows Credentialing: Hospital Corporation of America through this approach looks toward attaining a minimum standard while delivering patient care for the ill. In this approach Hospital Corporation of America looks to produce quality through identity, protecting the public and the hospital and ensure the integrity of the profession (TQM, 2010) Licensure: Hospital Corporation of America ensures licensing by entering in a contract between profession and state (TQM, 2010). In this approach a set of regulation and scope is set and the provider of service needs to take steps to match those. Accreditation: Hospital Corporation of America follows international standards and the provider needs to deliver care by following the standards which has already been created (Healthcare consulting, 2010). Ensuring this approach, delivers service, which are approved internationally and matches the already set standard. Audit: Hospital Corporation of America audits the nursing care provided to the ill. (TQM, 2010) This is done on a regular basis to find the manner in which health care was rendered. Hospital Corporation of America is thus able to establish criteria and draw findings. This helps the hospital to develop their future course of actions to improve quality in health care. It highlights the short-term and long-term goals which Hospital Corporation of America wants to achieve through it. Differentiating the goals into short-term and long-term is helping Hospital Corporation of America concentrate on the short-term objectives, which will gradually transform into long term objectives. The short-term goals of Hospital Corporation of America are Ensuring sufficient resources so that Hospital Corporation of America can use the resources to quality management. Hospital Corporation of America wants to ensure that in the short run the hospital has sufficient resources, which will help them to transfer quality care (Company Website, 2010) Ensuring that the hospital has efficient pool of doctors, nurses and employees who help the hospital to deliver quality service (Company Website, 2010). This is an important aspect of quality management in Hospital Corporation of America and developing a pool of doctors will ensure that even in emergencies the hospital can meet international standards. Hospital Corporation of America in the short run lay importance to maintenance (Company Website, 2010). Hospital Corporation of America needs to ensure equipments and other devices for care facilities as it is difficult to define quality and differs based on individual. The short-term goals shapes way for the long-term goals that Hospital Corporation of America wants to accomplish. The short-term goals therefore helps to identify the long-term goals that Hospital Corporation of America wishes to accomplish by ensuring proper service and quality management. The long-term objectives are Improving the brand image of the hospital by making the necessary changes from time to time (Company Website, 2010). Bringing regular changes will help Hospital Corporation of America to ensure that they can take steps to improve the brand image. This will help the hospital to grow and transform them into a bigger brand. Establishment of more hospitals at different locations (Company Website, 2010). Hospital Corporation of America on this front looks to do so by ensuring quality service. Delivering on the promises and caring for the patients will gradually help Hospital Corporation of America to increase their presence at the same time will improve their image. Matching the international standards concerning quality management in health care units on a consistent basis (Company Website, 2010). Hospital Corporation of America can thus transform the manner in which business is conducted by the hospital. Matching international standards will help Hospital Corporation of America to increase their patients’ base and will help the hospital grow their business. The short and long-term goals of Hospital Corporation of America depend on the environmental factors, which influences the quality outcomes. The environmental factors include both the internal and external environment. The internal factors, which affect quality management for Hospital Corporation of America, are The manner in which the executive team takes decision and includes senior leadership and the board. (Glickman, Bagget, Krubert, Peterson and Schulman, 2007) This has a long-term bearing on the manner the hospital can deliver quality service. Organizational design identifies the hierarchical level which defines the time and manner in which decision will take place (Glickman, Bagget, Krubert, Peterson and Schulman, 2007). It is important that to ensure quality management the health care facilities are delivered quickly. The incentive structure plays a role in ensuring that the employees can deliver quality health care service (Glickman, Bagget, Krubert, Peterson and Schulman, 2007) The use of technology plays an important role in identifying the manner in which Hospital Corporation of America can deliver quality health care facilities to its patients (Glickman, Bagget, Krubert, Peterson & Schulman, 2007) Availability of sufficient finance, which helps the hospital to continuously bring changes in the process of quality management. The internal factors also have a bearing because of the external factors, which are beyond the control of the hospital. The external factors, which affect quality management in Hospital Corporation of America, are as follows Changes in technology affect the quality of service and up gradation of technology bring better means to improve technology. This is a concern for Hospital Corporation of America as they continuously need to upgrade the technology and it is not in the control of the hospital Change in government policy also has an effect on the performance of the hospital Change in the policy of insurance company due to the payments method affects the working of Hospital Corporation of America Economy growth rate and medicines to disease has an effect on the performance of Hospital Corporation of America Hospital Corporation of America needs to take steps to ensure that they can deliver quality service. Hospital Corporation of America needs to consider the short and long term goals and the environmental factors while devising a policy. This will help them in quality management. Hospital Corporation of America can ensure quality management through the following ways Agile and responsive operation: Hospital Corporation of America needs to gain transparency by identifying the key areas of health care and continuously up grading the care facilities by developing key performance indicators, which acts as a guide (SAP, 2010) Greater nursing productivity and patient satisfaction: Hospital Corporation of America should look toward identifying detail analysis regarding patients’ readmission rate, infection rates and patients’ pain while going through the treatment process (SAP, 2010). The hospital should look at developing a plan, which reduces the cost of executing the care treatment by optimizing the staff levels, which will help in quality management. Accurate and complete reimbursement: Hospital Corporation of America should look at the revenues and expenses from every angle and develop a strategy where they do not face a liquidity crunch. (SAP, 2010) This will help Hospital Corporation of America to ensure delivery of quality service. Thus Hospital Corporation of America can benefit greatly by using different techniques and tools, which will help to improve health care facilities and help in quality management. This also helps Hospital Corporation of America to identify the manner in which risk management plays an important role in quality management. Hospital Corporation of America by ensuring proper risk management techniques can ensure proper quality management as risk has a bearing on quality and improving risk measures will finally lead toward improving the quality of service and develop a long-lasting relationship. References Company Website, (2010).Hospital Corporation of America. Retrieved from http://www.hcahealthcare.com/ Garud, A. (2000). Quality Initiative in Healthcare Management. Retrieved from http://www.expresshealthcaremgmt.com/20040331/qualitymanagement01.shtml Glickman, S. W. Bagget, K. A. Krubert, C. G. Peterson E. D. & Schulman, K. A. (2007). Promoting quality: the health care organization from a management perspective. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 19 (6), 341-348 Healthcare Consulting. (2010). Healthcare Consulting. Morison Menon. Retrieved from http://www.morisonmenon.com/morison-menon-healthcare-consulting.php SAP. (2010). SAP Business Objects Analytic Application. Retrieved from http://www.sap.com/solutions/sapbusinessobjects/large/industries/healthcare/quality-management/index.epx TQM. (2010). Total Quality Management in nursing care. Healthcare Management. Retrieved from http://currentnursing.com/nursing_management/total_quality_management_health_care.html QA. (2010). QA in Healthcare. Retrieved from http://www.qaproject.org/methods/resqa.html#systems Read More