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Quality and Performance Improvement |
There are many forces at work reshaping health care today. Everywhere we look from newspapers to television are remarks highlighting the intense concern about the future of health care. Key issues include the availability, quality and value of health care. These concerns are shared by patients, providers, insurance companies and accrediting agencies. Together, these concerns have fueled Community Health Care (CHC), to understand and improve how health care is delivered.. |
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| CHC has embraced the philosophy of total quality management (TQM). TQM provides a framework for improving performance. This framework rests on several related principles, the purpose of health care, how health care is delivered, and how health care is improved. To meet the challenges facing health care today, CHC, must improve quality and service outcomes, use resources efficiently and work as a team. |
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Quality/performance improvement principals focus on the design, measurement, assessment, and improvement of functions as well as of the processes within them. Quality/performance improvement is not limited to direct patient care functions, but clearly recognizes that leadership, management, and support functions also significantly influence care outcomes. Quality/performance improvement draws on the most successful approaches to improvement in health care and business, and combines these approaches into a logical and flexible cycle to carry out a wide range of improvement activities. The key to improving performance is in systematically designing, measuring, assessing, and improving the organizations functions and processes. |
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| Evidence of performance improvement is seen throughout our organization. CHC has an organization wide performance improvement plan which is updated on a periodic basis and is approved by our Board of Directors. We also have an internal multidisciplinary Performance Improvement/Quality Improvement Committee which reviews and approves new and current projects. |
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| Our staff and providers are currently involved in the following projects aimed toward improving quality and performance at CHC. |
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- Infection Control: Improve the number of hands on patient care workers
who receive the flu vaccine.
- Collaboratives: National initiative to improve patient outcomes regarding
diabetes and cardiovascular disease
- No Shows: Decrease the number of patients who do not show for their appointment
- Referrals: Provide on site referral services to patients. Decrease the
number of patients who do not show for their referral appointments
- Paps: Improve timeliness of patient notification of pap results
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