Meghan Fitzgerald, RN, MPH, DrPH, is an adjunct associate professor with the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and a private equity investor. She has decades of experience working in the healthcare field, ranging from frontline patient care to advising prominent healthcare firms. Here, she shares her view on what it will take to improve the rank of the United States when it comes … [Read more...]
Wrong Leg Amputation Focuses Attention on Surgical Errors and other Medical Mistakes
When an Austrian man had the wrong leg amputated this month, journalists and researchers took a look at medical mistakes, which were thought to be the third leading cause of death in the U.S. prior to 2020. “Human error” resulted in a man having the wrong leg amputated at a major Austrian hospital. The error occurred when a healthcare employee marked the wrong leg for amputation during … [Read more...]
What is Quality Improvement in Healthcare?
When healthcare leaders set goals for their organizations, such as preventing patient falls, or a medical system aims to lower opioid use after surgery, they use a process called quality improvement. But what is quality improvement in healthcare really about? “Quality improvement is the systematic approach that is guided by data to improve the quality and safety of healthcare delivery,” … [Read more...]
2021’s 12 worst states for quality senior health care
To determine the best and worst states for older adults’ health care, Medicare Guide compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across the key categories of cost, access and quality, evaluating them with 24 relevant metrics. Researchers graded each metric on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the best health care for older Americans at the most affordable … [Read more...]
Accreditation in the global healthcare marketplace
Tatum Anderson assesses the range of international hospital accreditations available on the global market today – looking at what each of these signifies in terms of international patient care – and how benchmarks can vary between standards, regions and private versus public hospitals Look up a hospital website, and the best in the world will boast a stream of accreditation standards. … [Read more...]