Does the Quality of Health Care Matter?
By Shain Waugh
China’s Emperors
According to ancient history, emperors of great wealth compensated physicians only when the emperors were well, and charge them when sick. The development of illness at this time meant the medicine did not work and the physician was failing at their job. The emperors vision was to remain health at all times regards of the efforts of the physician. In many cases, the influences of the great emperor’s vision exist in an array of universal healthcare system such as England, which the government compensates the physician for the total number of patients that remain healthy (i.e. stopping smoking).
United States
In the United States, the concept of the informed consumer will in turn lead to enhance quality of service within a medical facility. This means that purchaser, consumer, or general public will get better care if the proper care is designed to meets one’s needs and expectations. The vision for the health care industry is that health plans, clinicians, and institutions will provide better care to attract more patients. However, in most cases, the process still doesn’t make a significant difference. (Refer to Right Medical Physician)
What is Health Care Quality?
As a health care provider, there are an array of definitions of health care quality and the definition lye in the perception of the evaluator. There are some cases that good quality involves the wait time to see the doctor, the quality of food within the hospital, doctor response in calling back, type of medication prescribed, number of referrals from other doctors, or the amount of time the doctor spends with the patient.
The quality of healthcare must be evaluated as taking your brand new 2008, red, GMC Arcadia to the dealership to evaluate an abnormal sound coming from the engine. The technicians in the shop are the nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and physical therapists for this vehicle. These people are either friendly or not, knowledgeable or not, license or not, but the true questions is if they can fix the car right the first time or over time with multiple visits.
Oregonian Reports
According to the Oregonian reports, there are an array of hospitals and physician practices that are increasingly releasing cost and quality data, but reports along with surveys illustrate that the data is not yet affecting the consumer decisions The performance ratings remain crude, potentially misleading, and difficult for experts to understand. For example, “Oregon’s hospital quality rating Web site details hospitals’ experience with procedures, but consumers are limited when trying to select a top performer, in large part because mortality ratings for hospitals are similar.” In most cases, a medical facility with a high morality rates doesn’t make the facility a bad, unsafe, and dangerous facility to be admitted.
The reasoning is that most facilities with high morality are trauma centers and/or crisis centers that are best fit to address a critical situation. On the other hand, facilities with low morality isn’t a good indicator as well because many of these facilities push patients out once stabilized. In recent studies, New York and California showed that public reporting barely affected the flow of patients to hospitals with high death rates and that some hospitals with low death rates did not increase their patient flow.
According to studies, “most patients are not aware of quality comparisons and that those who are familiar with them seem distrustful and find them confusing.” The challenge with this quote from the Oregonian reports is that the general public is over load with healthcare information and left without a reliable source of information involving healthcare trends, changes, and helpful information. It’s proven via surveys that patients prefer advice from trusted friends, family, and personal physicians over published data or government sources.
Tying it Up
The health care providers including the U.S. government, insurance companies, and many pharmaceutical are working to improve the quality of healthcare today. However, the challenge will be for the general community to play a strong role in demanding the level of quality for yourself, friends, and family members. According to a 2004 study of 12 large U.S. communities, 54.9% of the people actually received the care the they designed, needed, and researched.
The Oregonian reports are a true indicator of how the U.S. health industry is in an uncontrolled status of confusion. We as a health community are so concerned with rising health cost, large premiums, medical errors, and so forth that we as a community become overwhelmed with unreliable healthcare information. Health information should come from one reliable source regulated by the government in a sense. These are many of the challenge the American people face within the land of opportunity, but the quality health care helps people feel better and enjoy a better quality of life, which is what is most important.
