A majority of healthcare quality professionals believe that reducing readmissions is extremely important for cost reduction at healthcare organizations, according to a new survey of healthcare quality improvement professionals in the United States conducted by ASQ, a global network of professionals and experts dedicated to quality.
The survey includes responses from more than 300 ASQ members in the healthcare quality profession.
According to survey respondents the following strategies are "extremely important" for cost reduction (respondents were asked to look at each choice and determine the level of importance):
• Reducing hospital readmissions — 42.9 percent
• Maximizing efficiency with existing clinical resources (staff and units) — 34.5 percent
• Implementing patient care coordination programs — 30.4 percent
• Changing medical malpractice laws — 30 percent
• Redesigning the healthcare delivery model to include alternatives to physician delivery of primary care, such as nurse practitioner primary caregivers — 29.6 percent
• Improving data and analytics on return on investment of medical products/technology — 23.2 percent
• Improving supply chain management — 21.3 percent
• Redesigning hospital care spaces to be more efficient — 21.2 percent
The respondents were also asked to choose the level of difficulty of the following hurdles facing healthcare organizations when trying to reduce costs. The following percentage of respondents determined that these hurdles were "very difficult":
• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its impact on how healthcare organizations set prices — 28 percent
• Medicare and Medicaid funding challenges — 26.1 percent
• Inability to negotiate prescription drug prices — 17.5 percent
More Articles on Quality:
Despite Guidelines, Antibiotics Prescribed at High Rate for Bronchitis
New Pathogen-Identification Method Leads to Cost Savings: Study
Kaiser South Sacramento Patients Potentially Exposed to Whooping Cough