Applying the Results and Conclusion of the Research Process to Problems in Health Care
Ijuanaya Woods
HCS/465
April 22, 2013
Kerrie Kelly

o Results In the world of healthcare, there are many advantages to improving the quality of healthcare while keeping the costs of healthcare down. One system is known as the “Pay for performance” system. This system is aimed at improving healthcare by offering a financial reward. This type of program usually pays a bonus if the providers or hospital meet on an agreed upon performance measure, for example, reducing the hemoglobin A1c in diabetic patients. Hemoglobin A1c is a test that shows the average level of blood sugar in a patient within the past 2-3 months. This is important for diabetic patients to see whether their blood sugar levels have been on target or not. These incentives can be paid directly to physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers to ensure that their facility carries out such improvements and to achieve the most optimal quality of care for their patients. Another system is called “pay for performance”, where paying providers for resulting in better outcomes for patients, who in return will improve these outcomes. While both of these programs are a great way to improve the quality of healthcare by giving providers some type of motivation to improve their services, it can also come with some penalties. Hospitals and nursing homes can face financial penalties if their patient becomes ill while in their care, for example, a patient having a Urinary Tract Infection from that patient having to use a catheter. o Data Analysis Procedures One way the data analysis procedure is analyzing the information is by using qualitative data collecting. This type of data can be translated into numbers if you are giving statistics on certain situations and can be analyzed mathematically. For example, the percentage of improved outcomes, the outcomes that you begin with before your company started doing a pay for performance program, and the how many you have all the percentage rate from then to now within the whole program. This can be used in different types of presentations and papers to reveal if the program is actually a successful program. This example can also be used if the program doesn’t work. It can show what was not improved and can also make an analysis of what procedures were used and why, so that the next time a different approach can be used. Some of the types of data analysis procedures are appropriate because also with qualitative data, you can survey your results to prove your hypothesis, such as reported behavior and ratings of satisfaction. There can be a direct result in how many liked their type of care or if they did not. This can prove if you thought that the program the company is using is effective. With qualitative data, it can tell you things that quantitative data cannot. Qualitative can show you patterns in behavior, social environments, and other factors. It can also show you what methods are working and what methods aren’t working. o Conclusion The findings of the study are that finding out whether choosing certain financial incentitive programs can be a good or bad thing for a hospital or clinic. If the program can hurt or help the clinic and the patients without having to raise the cost for quality healthcare. Some programs can be effective if the company is trained well on how to provide care for those that have certain diseases. When the staff is properly educated and trained on how to handle certain situations with patients, this can lower the costs of healthcare because there is no room for medical error. There is no room for a medical lawsuit if something goes wrong becasuse of negligence and careless errors can be avoided with the proper training. The strength is finding a reward program the can help motivate the employees to do their best and also provide great healthcare for their patients. The weakness can be that if the company doesn’t reach their goal, they can be penalized for it instead of getting a reward like they thought they would. This would be a limitation because then, whoever is over the program can become more strict or stop the program all together and this could hurt your clinic or hospital and possibly your patients. The findings that I found supported my hypothesis because I found out that there are more people willing to provide quality healthcare for those who cant afford it at a reasonable price and without that person having to fear that they will get a high medical bill that will eventually put them into more debt.

References: Bodenheimer, Tomas: Fernandez, Alicia. (2005, July 5) High and Rising Healthcare Costs. Part 4: Can Costs Be Controlled While Preserving Quality? Retrieved from www.anals.org