Question

describe the relationship between health care cost and quality. Address the following:

Analyze current and projected initiatives to improve quality while simultaneously controlling costs. Describe any unintended consequences.

Synthesize implications for staff nurses and advanced practice nurses, including evidence-based practice, relative to cost and quality.

Answer 1

HEALTH CARE COST VS. QUALITY

-Health care is extremely costly in the United States.
-US ranked 36th in the world for life expectancy and ranks poorly on other indicators of quality.
-Evidence of the direction of association between health care cost and quality is inconsistent.
- improvements in quality will require increases in cost; On the other hand, improvements in quality could lower costs by reducing hospital readmissions.
- The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act mandated that the Institute of Medicine further study the issue of geographic variation in cost and quality.