Value of Healthcare
Sharon Hixenbaugh
Franciscan University
Healthcare Systems
NUR 641
Dr. Debra Facello
October 19, 2014
Value of Healthcare
Healthcare is forever changing. With that said, healthcare systems cannot keep operating the way they have in the past. Gone are the days of fee for service. Healthcare systems have to change and become more competitive. Consumers are looking for better value and paying less for better quality. According to Dr. Richard Duszak, “ healthcare systems have had a good ride on volume but that wave is breaking, the new wave is value and promises to be a good ride but to get on it we need better data and more information.” The challenge is figuring out how to keep costs down and at the same time increasing the quality of care.
I have only been a nurse for twelve years. When I started my career, healthcare systems seemed to focus on how many beds were filled, the quantity of patients they had admitted, or is the hospital filled to maximum capacity? In just a short amount of time national healthcare spending has sky rocketed and changes in how to reduce this spending has gotten national attention. Quantity driven thinking is now quality or value based thinking, the wave of the future.
In this decade alone, we have made great strides in gathering information, conducting research, especially evidence-based research and changing policy to prevent medical errors, patient harm, and increasing medical costs. There has also been several national quality initiatives to establish standards and policy relative to healthcare quality (Goudreau & Smolenski, 2014, p. 255). Nurses, especially APRNs, are important components to assist with policy change because nurses add a voice to improve quality and safety. Improvement in quality and safety lead to better outcomes which leads to a better value and consumer satisfaction.
It is important that nurses are educated about the value of nursing, that as nurses we do have a voice and the knowledge needed to help control the rising cost of healthcare and make policy change to improve outcomes. Initiatives have been implemented to educate undergraduate nursing students and graduate nursing students about economic and policy