Questions from Managerial Economics & Business

Question: #891

Quality Improvement in the Health Care Organization—Accreditation

The mandate for improving the way in which health care is delivered was stimulated by the public outcry over the estimated 98,000 deaths because of medical errors each year, according to the Institute of Medicine in 1999. Since then, health care organizations have sought means by which the public can be reassured that they were meeting quality and safety standards. Accreditation agencies (such as JCAHO) and quality awards (such as the Consumer Choice Award, Reuters 100 Top Hospitals, HealthGrades, National Committee for Quality Assurance, Malcolm Baldridge Award, Magnet Status, and other memberships) provide a means for the public to evaluate where the agency is meeting minimum standards.

You have been assigned by your manager to determine which accrediting agencies or quality improvement programs your hospital will utilize in its upcoming revenue cycle. Your hospital is a magnet hospital in a large urban area that provides multilayered services. You have previously used JCAHO for your accreditation but feel that you might be better served by using another accreditation body. You have three months in which to gather data and present the information to your manager.

Choose 3 quality improvement/accreditation related programs to consider in replacing JCAHO for your organization, and briefly describe them. Note: Your agency accepts Medicare and Medicaid payments; therefore, you will need to explore, as background, the conditions of participation for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This is important information because you will need to compare your list of accrediting agencies and quality improvement programs with the conditions of participation to see if they meet the criteria.

Analyze the costs and benefits of each quality improvement/accreditation related program by stakeholder group (e.g., patient, provider, and third-party payer).

Rank order your quality improvement/accreditation related program suggestions with rationale.

Instructor

Comments:

Complete the Individual Project which is a 3-5 page paper in which you have been asked to research if there might be some other regulating/accrediting agencies that your facility could use to assure that the facility is meeting the Conditions of Participation under CMS. Some you may want to choose from include e NCQA, The Compliance Team, the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission, Healthcare Quality Association for Accreditation, Six Sigma or another which you find in your research

Additional Requirements

Min Pages: 3

Max Pages: 5

Level of Detail: Show all work

Other Requirements: Original Work Please

Solution: #898

Questions from Managerial Economics & Business

Answer five of the seven questions. Each question is worth 20 points. Please limit each answer to two double spaced typed pages, not more.

1. An article in the Wall Street Journal reported that large hotel chains, such as Marriott, are tending to reduce the number of hotels that they franchise to outside owners and increase the number the chain owns and manages itself. Some chains are requiring private owners or franchisees to make upgrades in their hotels, but they are having a difficult time enforcing the policy. Marriott says the upgrading is important because “we’ve built our name on quality.”

a. What type of agency problem is involved here?

b. Why would Marriott worry about the quality of hotels it doesn’t own but franchises?

c. Why would a chain such as Marriott tend to own its hotels in resort areas, such as national parks, where there is little repeat business, and franchise in downtown areas, where there is a lot of repeat business? Think of the reputation effect and the incentive of franchises to maintain quality.

2. Suppose you are the manager of a California winery. How would you expect the following events to affect the price you receive for a bottle of wine? Explain your answers.

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