Pay for Performance
What can simulation do for your health system? Discrete event simulation is a powerful analysis tool that allows users to test different options with real data before a decision is made. While simulation can benefit various industries, this post focuses on the specific advantages of using it in healthcare facilities. Health systems can use simulation to answer questions about changes to processes, configurations or staffing levels. Without the aid of simulation, facilities often never make these changes because it would be too costly to reorder process steps or test new configurations.
Dr. Richard Zane quickly spotted huge waste and inefficiency soon after he was hired to head the University of Colorado Hospital emergency department in 2012.
Dr. Atul Gawande has popularized the use of checklists to reduce errors and targeting the sickest and costliest patients as a way of holding down costs. But Monday, he ventured into new territory. In his keynote speech at the Healthcare Financial Management Association's Annual Nation Institute, he challenged finance officers to help lead their organizations toward greater integration and assume financial risk for patient outcomes.
The PRO public website shows current and average wait and service times for most hospitals in the U.S. and roll-ups by state. How does your hospital stack up?
Starting in 2012, Washington emergency rooms began tracking patients in a mandatory, statewide database as part of an effort to supply the necessary health information to divert patients from trips to emergency rooms for non-urgent problems. Dr. Nathan Schlicher, an ER doctor who serves on the board of the Washington State Medical Association, said the Emergency Department Information Exchange has given hospitals a way to monitor patients and keep hospitals up-to-date regarding patients' health records.
Prevailing misperception is that implementing any EHR complies with HITECH ACT requirements and incentive qualification. EHR implementation is only one part of meaningful use. Meaningful Use depends on workflow, evidence based clinical practice, measurement and reporting. In this presentation prepared for SHS by Kevin Martin, meaningful use is described along with the practical applications for organizations providing clinical care.
In this 2010 presentation at the Dartmouth School of Engineering, SHS contributor and past president, James Benneyan, Ph.D., from the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Northeastern University discusses that challenges of measuring performance of evidenced-based medicine and provides solutions to address these challenges.
A blog post discusses several reasons for the current health care funding crisis.
A blog discussion of general American assumptions of quality of care vs individual expenditure on that care.
Justification of pay for performance