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Question 1

Policies to improve the quality of healthcare

Including patients in the discussion team is very necessary because it will ensure that the patients’ inputs and advice are sought in enhancing the quality of health care. This will also ensure that the needs of the patients are considered in the formulating of policies to improve the quality of health care. In addition, including patients in this team will improve their knowledge on healthy living and lifestyle. This measure can also ensure that patients suffering from high chronic illnesses are well taken care of.

Question 2

The EMR consists of a lot of information that are vital to the multispecialty group. Some of the information in the EMR includes information about the patients. The EMR in addition gives the medical history of the patients. This is important because it helps the physicians to easily diagnosis the patients. The medical history of the patients also helps in identifying the high- risk patients and therefore the physicians can establish models that predict the patterns of the high-risk diseases with a view of treating these diseases. The EMR also gives information about clinical guidelines of treating some of the diseases besides giving information on nursing the patients. This helps to improve the quality of health care offered by the physicians. Furthermore, the EMR shows treatment protocols to the physicians on some of the medical cases. In general the EMR helps doctors and other physicians to establish a predictable pattern of treatment to the patients thereby improving the healthcare standards. The question I would like to ask about the EMR is that whether the system is protected from systemic failures that can cause a loss of important medical records. Due to the importance of the system, there should be measures put in place to prevent any failures of the system. Another important question is whether the EMR is protected from hackers who can hack and interfere with the medical records.

Question 3

Health first is a health insurer which enrolls a lot of patients to the Central Medical Facility. However, there have been differences between the two organizations in terms of their medical perspectives. Central Medical is concerned with the improving the quality of healthcare while Health First is concerned with the finances and the profits made. As a result, Health First has been overstating the medical costs of patients. The two organizations must therefore reach a consensus on the acceptable amounts of the medical rates.

To improve the quality of health care, Central Medical must first identify the areas that need improvement. This is done by identifying the resources that are underutilized such as medicine for treatment of a particular disease. The underutilization of certain medicine indicates that patients are not taken care of in that area or department and therefore warrants improvement. Therefore using medicine based evidence is effective in showing areas of potential improvement.

Question 4

The predictive models are designed according to the risk-level of the patients. Each model can be designed depending on the diagnosis of the diseases suffered by the patients. The physicians conduct a diagnosis on the patients and thereafter classify the diseases based on the risk- levels. After identifying the high risk diseases, the Central Group will be at a better position to come up with intervention measures and mechanisms. Directing attention to the high risk diseases will help increase the efficiency of healthcare. Even after diagnosing the high risk diseases, the group must identify the patients within the high-risk group are at the most critical conditions. This will help to save lives and improve the health of the patients.

The group can develop other diagnostic models to determine the level of risk among the high risk patients. This can be determined by looking at a patient’s age and the length of time a patient has been suffering from the disease.

Whereas other diagnostic models can be used to determine and design predictable models, it is the level of risk diagnosis that is the most efficient to improve the level of healthcare. This is because this model directs attention and care to the patients who are most in need.