Reprinted: Peoples Dispatch, 12-17-2024 Healthcare workers in the US have long been fighting for a radical transformation of the current for-profit healthcare system in order to provide quality care to all. People in the US pay billions towards the health insurance industry, yet many in the healthcare field believe that this industry does little to ensure quality care to patients. While US … [Read more...]
Healthcare And Data – How To Measure Quality
Reprinted: Forbes, 6-27-2023 We rate Uber drivers, restaurants, Amazon delivery, and much more, but when it comes to our own health experience, we often have little to no data. That’s especially scary because the business model of the health care provider (e.g., Doctor) is to get money from the insurance company. The patient is actually not the customer. Knowing quality is, therefore, of utmost … [Read more...]
Will the U.S. Ever Be a Leader in Health Care? A Public Health Expert Weighs In
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...]