Brief: Plenty of room for improvement in U.S. healthcare
Although progress has been made during the past decade, the nation still faces challenges in making healthcare safe, effective, efficient, patient-centered, timely and free of disparities, according to a health policy brief from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The brief, released April 15, discussed key challenges and recent findings on quality improvement efforts. Among these findings:
The brief, released April 15, discussed key challenges and recent findings on quality improvement efforts. Among these findings:
- Despite improvements in recent years, healthcare in the U.S. is not as safe as it could be. For example, about 40 surgeries are performed each week on the wrong patient, or the wrong site of the patient’s body, according to the Joint Commission.
- Some efforts to set standards, create checklists and adopt other techniques to reduce medical errors and improve the quality of care being delivered have paid off. For example, rates of bacterial and fungal infections that enter into the bloodstream through catheters, ventilators or other equipment have dropped.
- Provisions in the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act aim to boost quality improvement efforts. Starting in 2013, for example, hospitals where readmission rates for patients with heart failure and other ailments exceed a target will be penalized under Medicare; conversely, those who perform better than expected will receive financial incentives.
- Achieving high reliability is crucial in the face of the growing complexity of medical care. The use of robust process improvement tools will be critical.