As you can see in the table below, though the United States has had the highest health care expenditure in the world, the health status of the entire population has lagged behind numerous developed countries. The Affordable Care Act is aimed at promoting quality of care along with cost reduction, but health care organizations wrestle with meeting all of the challenges.
| 2011 |
Japan |
Germany |
U.S.A. |
| Total Health Expenditure per Capital |
$3,174 |
$4,371 |
$8,608 |
| Total Health Expenditure as a % of GDP |
9.30% |
11.10% |
17.90% |
| Life Expectancy at Birth (M/F) |
79/86 |
78/83 |
76/81 |
| Child Mortality per 1,000 (both) |
3 |
4 |
8 |
| Adult Moltaliuty per 1,000 (M/F) |
84/46 |
96/51 |
131/77 |
| Data source: World Health Organization Statistics |
Present to your classmates a quality improvement & cost saving project that you read about in a scholarly source, addressing the following eight key questions:
What was the health care setting (hospital, clinic, nursing home, etc.)?
What were the problems/issues leading to the change project?
Who were the stakeholders involved in the project?
What was the timeframe involved in the project?
What were the financial resources allocated to the project?
What were the results on quality improvement?
What was the evidence on cost saving?
Leatt and colleagues (1997) recommended nine approaches for successful cost cutting. Which approaches are demonstrated in your case?