May 16, 2011
“One of the key challenges for all governments is how to make the best use of evidence in both policy formation and policy evaluation. The challenges are multiple: to identify what research and knowledge is needed; to identify appropriate sources of that knowledge; to ascertain the validity, quality and relevance of the knowledge obtained; and to understand how that knowledge informs a range of potential policy options. As science has become more complex and impacts on every aspect of our lives, offering solutions to many of the problems the world confronts, these issues become more urgent. Yet science alone does not and should not make policy — it provides a basis of information on which other dimensions, including societal values, public opinion, affordability and diplomatic considerations, must be added while also accommodating the political process. But policy made in the absence of information and science-based evidence can only be made on the basis of dogma, and is less likely to serve the country well.”
Posted in READ Portal, Reports & Papers | Tagged with Decision making, Evidence-based, Policy | No Comments
April 28, 2011
“What’s the key to staying above water in an environment of increasing demand and decreasing reimbursements? Patient throughput (is) key in mitigating potential financial risks…” The following lessons illustrate how one organization addressed its patient flow issues:
- Technology Brings Needed Momentum;
- Technology Can’t Be the Cure;
- Process Change and Culture Change Go Hand-in-Hand;
- Identifying Where You Can Create Capacity;
- Preparing for the Long-term Effects of Reform.
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Decision making, Efficiency, Quality improvement, Technology | No Comments
April 26, 2011
“Variations in health care in the NHS are a persistent and ubiquitous problem. But which variations are acceptable or warranted – for example, variations driven by clinical need and informed patient choice – and which are not? The important question is how to promote ‘good’ variation and minimise ‘bad’ variation.
Variations in health care: The good, the bad and the inexplicable explores the possible causes of variation, shows the different ways in which variations can be measured, and analyses variations by PCT in rates of elective hospital admissions for selected procedures.
The causes of variation are complex and inter-related – they may be affected by, for example, differences in geographical patterns of illness, differences in clinicians’ behaviour, the effects of incentives in the financing of health care. These causes are mapped and discussed.”
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Decision making, Policy, Program evaluation, Quality assessment, Quality control, Quality improvement, Safety | No Comments
April 25, 2011
“Legislation is one of the most powerful weapons for improving population health and is often used by policy and decision makers. Little research exists to guide them as to whether legislation is feasible and/or will succeed. We aimed to produce a coherent and transferable evidence based framework of threats to legislative interventions to assist the decision making process and to test this through the ‘case study’ of legislation to ban smoking in cars carrying children.”
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Decision making, Evidence-based, Policy, Risk assessment | No Comments
April 13, 2011
“The Hospital Inpatient Waste Identification Tool provides a systematic method for hospital frontline clinical staff, members of the financial team, and leaders to identify clinical and operational waste and subsequently prioritize and implement waste reduction initiatives that will result in cost savings for the organization.
The tool consists of five modules — Ward Module, Patient Care Module, Diagnosis Module, Treatment Module, and Patient Module — that qualitatively identify opportunities for waste reduction. Each module includes clearly articulated waste types, worksheets, and instructions.”
Posted in Multimedia, READ Portal | Tagged with Decision making, Efficiency, Quality improvement | No Comments
March 29, 2011
“The Model for Improvement, (an online resource) developed by Associates in Process Improvement, is a simple yet powerful tool for accelerating improvement. The model is not meant to replace change models that organizations may already be using, but rather to accelerate improvement. This model has been used very successfully by hundreds of health care organizations in many countries to improve many different health care processes and outcomes.”
This model provides decision-makers with guides on how to form effective teams, set realistic aims, establish valid measures, select appropriate changes, test changes using the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle, and implement and spread said changes at an organizational level.
Posted in Multimedia, READ Portal | Tagged with Decision making, Efficiency, Health care reform, Quality improvement | No Comments
March 28, 2011
“Public health includes policy, practice and research but to sufficiently connect academic research, practice and public health policy appears to be difficult. Collaboration between policy, practice and research is imperative to obtaining more solid evidence in public health. However, the three domains do not easily work together because they emanate from three more or less independent ‘niches’.
Work cycles of each niche have the same successive steps: problem recognition, approach formulation, implementation, and evaluation, but are differently worked out. So far, the research has focused on agenda-setting which belongs to the first step, as expressed by Kingdon, and on the use of academic knowledge in policy makers’ decision-making processes which belongs to the fourth step, as elaborated by Weiss. In addition, there are more steps in the policy-making process where exchange is needed.”
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Decision making, Evidence-based, Policy | No Comments
March 23, 2011
“(A)s the entire (healthcare) industry is rapidly moving from process to outcomes-based metrics, most healthcare executives and senior staff are still ill equipped to make prudent decisions that help improve care while ensuring their efforts are operationally and fiscally sound.
Today providers make these decisions using a combination of partial data, past experience and trial and error. However, with technological advancement, better methods of decision-making are coming to the forefront. If implemented appropriately, these methods can rapidly change the paradigm of care and the overall performance of the healthcare enterprise.
“
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Decision making, Economics, Quality of care, Technology | No Comments
March 15, 2011
This article reviews how health care management can stop the leakage of personal health information. The author advocates engaging in and being aware of the following five areas:
- Find and Remove “Shadow Systems”;
Eliminate user recreations of existing hospital data and stop future duplications.
- Include Only Required Information in Reports;
Eliminate all unnecessary personal information in reports.
- Find and Digitally Shred Unneeded Information;
Dispose of outdated reports containing personal information.
- The Human Element;
Ensure all staff are properly trained in secure data handling.
- Authorized Access.
Manage access to secure and confidential data.
By engaging in these practices health care management can over many of the potential risks associated with the handling of private personal information.
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Benchmarking, Decision making, Medical records, Policy | No Comments
March 11, 2011
The
assertion
that
Medicare
is
“unsustainable”
has
been
repeated
so
many
times1
that
in
some
circles
it
has
become
accepted
as
indisputable
fact.
Critics2
of
Medicare
assert
that
the
cost
of
our
public
health
care
system
is
growing
at
an
alarming
pace.
They
are
joined
by
provincial
Premiers
who
are
concerned
that
health
care
is
taking
up
an
increasing
proportion
of
provincial
budgets.3
They
claim
that
the
cost
of
health
care
is
rising
faster
than
the
pace
of
inflation
and
taking
up
an
increasing
share
of
provincial
budgets.
Extrapolations
of
future
costs,
based
on
these
trends,
lead
to alarming
assertions
that
health
care
could
consume
70%
of
provincial
tax
dollars
by
2022
and
80%
of
provincial
budgets
by
2030.
Critics
warn
that
the
depth
of
the
crisis
will
inevitably
increase,
with
a
tidal
wave
of
health
care
demand
sweeping
across
the
nation
as
baby
boomers
become
seniors
and
overwhelm
the
system.
With
this
supposed
crisis
looming,
provinces
have
been
forced,
say
critics,
to
reduce
commitments
to
education
and
municipalities.
Medicare
and
public
health
care
expenditures
are
not
growing
rapidly.
Any
crisis
in
health
care
funding
has
nothing
to
do
with
Medicare.
The
costs
of
Medicare
–
medically
necessary
hospital
and
physician
services
–
are
not
growing
significantly
and
can
easily
be
sustained.
Posted in READ Portal, Reports & Papers | Tagged with Canada, Decision making, Economics | No Comments
