Healthcare Quality Assurance and Accreditation Key Terms

Essential information for quality assurance in the healthcare industry

Healthcare quality assurance and accreditation focuses on activities that contribute to defining, assessing, monitoring, and ultimately improving the overall quality of healthcare delivery. Many of these activities are done when facilities are applying for accreditation, which helps to focus the provider on delivering high quality healthcare.

This process includes the evaluation and assessment of the quality of care given; identification of any types of breakdowns in the process of delivering healthcare; the process of preventing any types of adverse event; and the correction and follow up monitoring. To better understand this process, become familiar with the common terms used in this type of evaluation.

 

Accreditation

Accreditation is the processes utilized by various healthcare organizations to concisely assess the organization's level of healthcare performance according to established guidelines and standards and how they work to improve that level to the highest goals possible. This is done with the ultimate goal being high level quality care and optimal patient safety.
Try: An independent, not-for-profit organization called The Joint Commission certifies and accredits health care organizations and programs in the United States and is seen as the foremost leader in performance of this process.

Pay-for-Performance

Pay-for-Performance is a process for paying physicians and hospitals based on the demonstrated achievements of each, in meeting specific measures of health care quality objectives. It can be view as a way to reward healthcare providers who deliver good quality healthcare based on specific measures.
Try: Medicare has many different types of initiatives to increase improved quality of healthcare in all types of health care settings. To see the many types of incentives offered, including pay for performance, you can log onto the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services website for complete details.

Quality medical care

Quality medical care is the measure of the ability of a healthcare provider to provide healthcare services which produce desired health outcomes by doing things the right way, in the right time for the right patient to get a positive outcome.
Try: The Journal of the American Medical Association has extensive information on what Quality medical care is and how it is delivered.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is the primary federal agency for the process of research regarding health care quality, outcomes, costs and patient safety and is under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Try: There are a multitude of initiatives that are sponsored by the AHRQ that examine the many aspects of providing quality patient care, as well as a huge database of practice guidelines.

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is a process that allows doctors and hospitals to analyze and compare quality data against other practitioners and facilities to better identify best types of practices to improve the overall quality.
Try: The Association for Benchmarking Health Care assesses and examines the needs of the health care management in relation to techniques and processes which can help to identify leading industry clinical practices.

Clinical practice guidelines

Clinical practice guidelines are sets of statements and ideas which are developed and based on many different sources of scientific based evidence. They help the healthcare provider their patients to make informed and appropriate healthcare decisions. These guidelines evaluate and identify the most current data and information about diagnosis therapy, effectiveness, risk, benefits and prevention.
Try: The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has a reference site that is solely devoted to the concept of clinical practice guidelines and is considered to be a leader in educating and evaluating healthcare providers in the use of these guidelines.

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