Quality of Care--When is "Good," Good Enough?
Quality of Care--How Good Is Good Enough? Harold C. Sox; Sheldon Greenfield JAMA. 2010;303(23):2403-2404 (doi:10.1001/jama.2010.810 [Extract]:
Quality of Care--How Good Is Good Enough? Harold C. Sox; Sheldon Greenfield JAMA. 2010;303(23):2403-2404 (doi:10.1001/jama.2010.810 [Extract]:
The quality improvement movement has changed its focus from improving the health of patients to obtaining the greatest return for the investment. Why? Because experience has shown, time and again that the former is beyond our abilities, beyond any 'carrot and stick' approach to patient care, and beyond any contrived incentive realignments. When it comes to lifestyle management, we fail, miserably. For instance, getting people to stop smoking, the only thing that has worked is raising the pric
The main tension about healthcare centers around medical need, quality, access and cost-efficiency, i.e., affordability. To increase "value," one must raise quality, improve access and/or lower the cost of care.
The modus operandi in managing care is that 'one cannot manage what one does not measure and the obverse, one cannot measure what one does not manage.' Consider the final equalizer in health care method comparisons—outcomes….who's measuring? Who's managing?
Increasingly, the cost of care is unnecessarily dear, rising exponentially while the return on investment is falling precipitously. What can be done about improving the value of health care? Our health care system is particularly inefficient and, for some it has become unaffordable. As for the quality of care, by any measure it is variable at best. But, why is it so hard to fix our health care system.
Improving doctors' effectiveness and cost-benefit For anyone who has hands on experience managing care in a health care organization of any type, there's an obvious answer that is difficult, but not impossible to implement—make cogent information* available at the point of contact with the patient, regardless of setting and within HIPAA constraints.
The main tension about healthcare centers around medical need, quality, access and cost-efficiency, i.e., affordability. You can increase value by raising quality, improving accessibility and by lowering the cost of care. The "cost of care," however, is the elephant in the room.
The question really is what are you getting for your health care dollar? What's right or not right with the healthcare system, and why? And, what specifically needs to be changed and how will that be accomplished, if at all? The "Bang for the buck" issue, the Medical Loss Ratio, is revisited in "Healthcare Reform Will Fail if We Don’t Reduce Costs!"
Clearly, the interface between managed care and the Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing (PMM) industries, is important for the health of either industry. In common tare he issues of appropriateness, compliance, cost-effectiveness, patient selection and symbiosis among all relevant players on the health care stage (ACCESS). I say, put the practicing clinician on the PMM team and visa versa—How and Why?