Assignment 3: Healthcare Quality
Due Week 6 and worth 200 points

Assume that you are a Quality Officer who is responsible for one of the state’s largest healthcare organizations. You have been told that the quality of patient care has decreased, and you have been assigned a project that is geared toward increasing quality of care for the patients. Your Chief Executive Officer has requested a six to eight-page summary of your recommended initiatives.

Note: You may create and /or make all necessary assumptions needed for the completion of this assignment.

Write a 6-8 page paper in which you:

1. Analyze three (3) quality initiatives for your organization.
2. Determine the supporting factors that would aid in the reduction of healthcare cost in your organization without reducing quality of care for the patients.
3. Differentiate between quality in a free market healthcare system and in single payer government system with three (3) examples for each.
4. Specify three (3) common law quality initiatives that are still found in 21st century healthcare organizations.
5. Defend your position on the importance of healthcare quality for your organization. Provide support with at least three (3) examples that illustrate your position.
6. Assemble a plan to protect patient information that complies with all legal requirements.
7. Use at least three (3) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Describe the evolution of hospitals and sources of law.
• Examine tort law and the criminal aspects of health care.
• Analyze the impact of healthcare financing and health insurance on healthcare access, quality, and cost.
• Determine the factors that affect healthcare quality in healthcare organizations.
• Examine information management and health care records and how the legal reporting requirements impact health care. 
• Assess the legal implications of ethical decisions that impact consent for treatment, right-to-die, and patient rights and responsibilities.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in healthcare policy, law, and ethics.
• Write clearly and concisely about healthcare policy and law using proper writing mechanics.

Interview a governmental public health agency or someone working in healthcare (clinician, hospital administrator, etc). Summarize your interview. Include challenges, strengths, and other information you found important/interesting:

GPH714 Principles of Public Health

Topic: Informational Interview

Using the table below as a guide, develop interview questions to ask a representative of a governmental public health agency or someone working in health care.  You do not need to include all the aspects listed below.  In addition, you may include other information not listed in the table.  Your interview should not last more than 1 hour.

Based on the information gathered in the interview, summarize your interview and lessons learned.  Assignment should be between 2-3 pages double spaced.  Submit the completed assignment via Blackboard.

Structure your written assignment accordingly:

·        Introduction/Overview

·        Describe the organization.

·        Identify how the organization puts public health into practice.

·        List examples of interprofessional collaboration.

·        Provide your insight on the organization based upon the concepts learned during the past 2 modules. This may include your recommendations for the organization.

·        Incorporate information about strengths, weaknesses and/or opportunities in the summary.

Note on writing:

Ø  Use professional writing.

Ø  Do not use personal pronouns (I, me, we, us, etc.).

Ø  See rubric in syllabus for guidance on grading.

Ø  This assignment should include very limited references/sources. It should mostly be in your words.  If using outside sources, please reference using AMA format.