Question

• Address the following questions:
  • Why is it important for physicians to engage in quality improvement activities?
  • What’s the best way to get physicians involved in these programs, and to educate them about the importance of ongoing quality improvement?
  • What are some obstacles to getting physicians engaged in these programs?
  • Your primary post should address all three of the questions listed, and be a minimum of 200 words.

Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.

Answer 1

It is important for physicians to engage in quality improvement activities,

Because Physician engagement is not a new phenomenon; it has been a top concern of healthcare leaders across the nation for years. With changes to reimbursement models and the shift towards value-based care, strong physician relations are imperative to the success of healthcare organizations, even more now than ever before.

Highly-engagedphysicians have been linked to enhanced patient care, better quality, higher efficiency, increased retention, improved physician satisfaction, and lower costs.

The following are few additional benefits,

A.)Engaged physicians may give a hospital 3 percent more outpatient referrals and 51 percent more inpatient referrals.

B) Engaged physicians are have a reported 26% higher productivity levels.

C) In addition to better care and patient safety, physician engagement also has financial benefits as it reduces referral leakage and builds physician loyalty.

D) Engaged physicians have a more engaged patient base.

E) Engaged physicians are often more loyal, more co-operative, are willing to work through challenges while providing constructive feedback.

F) Engaged physicians are dedicated to their patients and committed to the improvement of their organizations.

2. The best way to get physicians involved in these programs are 6 strategies.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement put together a framework of six elements to encourage physician buy-in for a shared quality agenda.these are as follows:-

a.)Discover a common purpose. This forces cultural shift where everyone in the organization begins to think as a system instead of in silos. But not all systems are ready for such a significant shift, which is why it’s helpful to first complete an Improvement Readiness Assessment.This is a systematic analysis of an organization’s ability to achieve and sustain performance improvement based on a three-system approach. The results may show there’s a lot of mistrust that needs to be overcome before the entire organization can unite under a common purpose.

b.)Adopt an engaging style and talk about rewards. Identify early adopters, the real physician leaders, and present this new leadership role as a career opportunity for them. This makes it easier to talk about other rewarding efforts they could expect to see, such as a clinician or administrator promotion track and the maintenance of certifications.

c.)Reframe values and beliefs to turn physicians into partners, not customers. Include physicians in the decision-making process.

d.)Segment the engagement plan and provide education. Go ahead and identify champions for the quality improvement initiative. Find the frontline folks who are seen as leaders in terms of the care they provide. Then educate them about the goals for the improvement efforts. Also, provide them with the support and training they will need to gain quality improvement skills.

e.)Use “engaging” improvement methods by using data. One of the key pieces to increasing physician buy-in is to use data sensibly and focus on system performance objectives first. Then make it easy to try an improvement effort that doesn’t need to be perfected in the beginning. Physicians are perfectionists. But if the health system can show the benefit to making improvements in a safe manner, even if the improvements haven’t been perfect yet, physicians will realize that quality improvement is an iterative process. With this approach, physicians learn it’s okay to fail, but fail quickly, so they can learn and make adjustments to improve.

f.)Show courage and provide backup all the way to the board. Let physicians know the CEO will take their improvement plan suggestions to the board for approval, and the board and CEO will understand this is a physician-led initiative.

3. ) the obstacles to get physicians engaged in these programs are as follows:-

To obtain high levels of physician engagement, it is important to understand why some physicians are reluctant to participate in the quality improvement process.

I) Physicians feel overwhelmed and ill-equipped to implement change. They also lack an understanding of how their behavior contributes to healthcare waste and inefficiency.

II) Hospitals and payers believe that employing physicians is the primary means of securing alignment. Instead, a holistic approach by combining multiple alignment levers (e.g., personal autonomy, clinical autonomy, colleagues, IT department) would be more effective.

III) Organizations have the misconception that compensation is one of the most important drivers for physicians.

IV) Physicians have a poor understanding of the risk-based payment model along with being risk-averse.