Measuring Quality in Healthcare
The quality of healthcare has always been an issue but now it’s front-page news as part of the healthcare reform debate. In the July 2009 Quality Progress, Janusz J. Godyn, M.D., takes issue with institutions that define healthcare quality by how patients and families perceive it. According to Godyn, “third-party payers should reward hospitals for maximizing quality of care, while patients should reward hospitals for quality of service.” Of the two, he states that “there is no doubt that quality of care is more important and should shape the meaning of quality in healthcare.”
He proposes three models to measure quality of care, none of which is a panacea:
- Measurable results of medical outcome
- Compliance with the best evidence-based practice
- Ethics plus knowledge and skills plus equipment minus poor safety practices
Godyn also takes issue with the Baldrige Criteria for healthcare, arguing that the Award “focuses on human perceptions of quality as drivers of actual quality in healthcare.”
He’s wrong. Item 7.1 specifically asks for the results of healthcare outcomes-the quality of care. Item 7.2 asks for results of patient satisfaction-the quality of service. Item 7.1 is worth 100 points, which is the largest total for any Item in the Criteria. Item 7.2 is worth 70 points.
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