Integrated Safety-Net Health Care System case study.

Posted: December 14th, 2022

Integrated Safety-Net Health Care System case study.

Integrated Safety-Net Health Care System Case Study
III. Financial Incentives and Quality Improvement Processes
Montefiore center adheres to the relevant Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate in any way. The organization provides free and affordable medical care to vulnerable populations. The provision of care to the vulnerable population without any discrimination has led to improved health outcomes for the population. Integrated Safety-Net Health Care System case study.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

A population health approach that the organization uses to improve quality and reduce costs includes segmentation of patient populations, use of primary medical care home delivery model and focusing on overall health. Some of the strategies that the organization has implemented to reduce overall costs and improve quality include the use of telemonitoring tools(Chase, 2010). Telehealth monitoring systems enable monitoring of patients and their needs while patients are within the comfort of their homes. Tele-monitoring has been shown to keep healthcare costs down and improve health outcomes for the patients. For Montefiore, using telemonitoring tools reduced annual costs from 32-9% when compared to the earlier year (Chase, 2010).
The healthcare system at Montefiore is patient-centered. According to Jayadevappa (2017), patient-centered care system focuses on the specific health needs and desired health outcomes of the patients to make health care decisions. In Montefiore, their patient-centered system tailors the access and delivery of healthcare to the unique needs of the low-income and vulnerable populations it serves. Moreover, in Montefiore the lead healthcare providers work collaboratively with each other; from doctors, nurses to social workers and patients as well to provide consistent, efficient and individualized care (Chase, 2010). Patient-centered care is normally collaborative and accessible and the socioeconomic conditions, as well as traditional values and beliefs, are taken into consideration (Gemmaeet al, 2018). Montefiore ensures accessibility of healthcare services and takes into consideration the unique beliefs and needs of the patients, especially the socioeconomic conditions of the population the organization serves.
The organization has employed various strategies to reduce costs and improve overall care. For example, the organizational leadership has developed approaches for care management that are aimed at improving quality of care and also reducing costs. A good example is the CMO network managing discharge planning staff where the discharge process has moved to nurses providing patient discharge education to patients while at home (Chase, 2010). Integrated Safety-Net Health Care System case study. This strategy has significantly reduced readmissions indicating reduced healthcare costs and improved health-care outcomes. The telehealth program monitors patients with chronic diseases at the comfort of their home; this strategy has decreased the need for hospital care and hence reducing healthcare costs. The provision of coordinated and integrated care across the home, primary, specialty, and hospital care settings has also significantly improved care. In addition, the organization has streamlined specialty care appointment system connected to all Montefiore providers; this allows any open slot to be identified and hence reduced waiting times for the patients(Chase, 2010).
The organization focuses on improving care access to vulnerable populations by taking care of the community instead of the people always coming to the hospital. This is evident for instance through the use of school-based clinics and telemedicine that allows patients to monitored while at home (Chase, 2010). These strategies have resulted in improved quality of care, especially for individuals with chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.
However, the gaps or deficiencies existing for the organizational use of the population health approach include identification of risk factors and use of evidence-based screening and prevention(Anderman, 2018). The organization can focus on identifying risk factors contributing to the poor population. Some of the risk factors include unhealthy diet, lack of physical activities, and smoking. These risk factors contribute to chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart diseases (Anderman, 2018). Accordingly, identifying, preventing and screening of risk factors can help in reducing chronic diseases for the population.
IV. Recommendations
The organization can improve cultural competence,for example, involving patients in medical decision-making. This can be done by assessing the decision-making preferences for the patients and determining the patient’s preferred decisions. Involving the patient in the decision-making regarding their care will make them feel they are part of their treatment process and also integrate the preferred patient’s beliefs and values within the treatment plan (Brown et al, 2016).
Another strategy that the organization can ensure cultural competency is by recruiting staff members from different cultural backgrounds. The organization should also focus on employing the locals especially if they are qualified(Truong et al, 2014). Integrated Safety-Net Health Care System case study. Additionally, the organization should implement a strategy to eliminate the language barrier, especially for non-English speakers. For example, interpreters can be provided or the patients can be requested to bring family members or friends during the appointment. Such strategies can reduce the risk of the patient feeling they are at risk of negative stereotypes. Lastly, the healthcare practitioners in the organization can attend workshops and training or cultural competence (Truong et al, 2014). Integrated Safety-Net Health Care System case study.
Health promotion and disease prevention strategies to improve the population’s health status include health communication and health education. Health communication is the use of communications strategies to inform and influence individual decisions regarding their health(Ali & Katz, 2015). The organization can, therefore, use various communication strategies to educate the population about better health choices. Some of the strategies for the current population include developing materials like brochures and billboards and holding focus group discussions with the community members about the better health choices such as increased physical activities, healthy diets, reducing alcohol intake or smoking cessations (Ali & Katz, 2015). Secondly, health education is another strategy that can be used to ensure health promotion. Health education strategies should focus on the target population where the target population is presenting with specific health topics (Duplagaet al, 2016). Therefore, the organization can identify the health problems facing the population it serves and present information to the population regarding the health issues, and also provide them with tools to support behavior change. Integrated Safety-Net Health Care System case study.
Policies and strategies that improve population health approach to decrease costs and improve quality care include delivering evidence-based care and using team-based strategies and shared decision-making. The shared decision-making and team-based approaches that involved caregivers, patients and their families regarding the patient’s prognosis and recovery has been shown to ensure the development of cohesive treatment plans (Cosgrove et al, 2014). This has been shown to reduce hospital length-of-stay, improve health outcomes, improve patient satisfaction, and generally reduce healthcare costs. Involving patients and their families in all steps of the treatment process ensures that they are integrated within the care team (Cosgrove et al, 2014).
Delivering evidence-based care has also been shown to improve quality and reduce healthcare costs. This is because evidence-based care ensures the provision of safe and efficient care. For example, Montefiore organization can implement policies that ensure that patients are treated as per the latest clinical evidence (Cosgrove et al, 2014).This is likely to significantly improve the quality of care and hence improve healthcare outcomes. Integrated Safety-Net Health Care System case study.