Assignment Problem: Quality is indispensable to the strategic priorities of the U.S. healthcare system and those of every healthcare organization. Today, quality in healthcare is addressed from the perspectives of customers, providers, and third-party payers. The Institute of Medicine's (IM's) 1999 Report on Patient Safety gave a significant push to improve healthcare quality in the United States. Recently, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Department of Health and Human Services published the first National Quality Strategy to guide local, state, and national activities to improve healthcare quality.
Explain quality in healthcare from the perspectives of customers, providers, and third-party payers, and highlight the National Quality Strategy.
Based on Donabedian's model, discuss what you would assess under the structure, the process, and the outcome.
Assess the relevance of Deming's 14 principles in quality improvement today.
Discuss the benefits of the lean and Six Sigma approaches for the healthcare organization.