The Impact of Nurse Practitioner Services on Cost, Essay Example

Introduction

Healthcare organizations operating as nonprofit institutions continue to evolve on a regular basis in order to support the needs and wants of the healthcare community in many different ways. These factors represent a means of developing new strategies to achieve growth and to be proactive in improving quality of care for patients, while also operating under a cost effective interface and operations strategy. These factors support the development of new and creative approaches to healthcare practice that will satisfy patient care needs and improve efficiency and cost effectiveness as best as possible. Most importantly, the growth and evolution of a healthcare organization requires expert knowledge and resources in order to improve areas where weaknesses prevail, including core functions. This practice requires a high level understanding and acceptance of the tools and resources that will have a lasting impact on patient care quality and the overall effectiveness of the organization as it moves forward to achieve its optimal growth potential.

For the Religious organization with secular roots, there is a continuous need for improvement and cost effectiveness in order to treat its patient population with the utmost care, respect, and attention on a continuous basis in order to achieve the intended objectives. As a result, a number of improvements at the core level are required in order to achieve successful results and provide optimal quality of care at all times. An organization must evaluate its efforts with respect to its operations so that it is able to provide the desired level of care and treatment in a cost effective manner, utilizing the resources that are available. The following discussion will address the roles and responsibilities of the Religious organization in its efforts to improve its overall strategic performance and to recognize the value of cooperation, communication, and cost effectiveness in reaching its goals and objectives without compromising quality of care for its patients.

Body

Religious is a 575 bed facility with approximately 2,000 employees, 13,000 admissions, 221,000 outpatient visits, and 2,300 births annually. The organization operates with the intent to maximize quality of care for its inpatient and outpatient populations at all times and continues to address areas where weaknesses may be corrected to improve outcomes and overall performance. The implementation of a consultant to improve this practice supports the development of a new set of perspectives to accommodate patients in a variety of settings. The consultant’s role is designed to identify weaknesses and to improve outcomes through the identification of items that require corrective action. These efforts will demonstrate the significance of core functions and how to best overcome limitations or weaknesses in these areas to improve patient care quality in a cost effective manner.

Key Performance Dimensions

In order to accomplish the necessary objectives, Religious must focus on its efforts to optimize patient care quality using a number of key performance dimensions that are practical and will promote greater oversight regarding organizational needs in an effective manner. In addition to the standard key measures that are common within organizations, it is important to address other key variables that will support the growth and development of the healthcare environment in a positive manner to enhance quality of care. These measures will be addressed in the following paragraphs.

Employee commitment: Religious employs approximately 2,000 personnel with a variety of expertise levels and knowledge bases; therefore, the organization must be able to demonstrate that it is committed to its employees and their overall satisfaction. However, this process also requires the organization to be proactive in its efforts to gauge employee commitment and to understand the reasons why employees remain with the organization or why they might move elsewhere. The organizational culture plays a role in this process and must be considered as part of the reason why employees are satisfied and remain with the organization or leave for other employers (Persson, 2014). Therefore, Religious must continue to expand its options with respect to its employees in order to achieve its intended objectives and to keep high quality employees for as long as possible.

Technology: The integration of technology is of critical importance to the current and future stability of Religious as it moves forward in its efforts to achieve the desired performance outcomes. It is known that “Health IT by itself can improve health value (defined as utility/costs), but its main contribution to health value may be that it can make possible new care delivery models to achieve much greater value. Thus, health IT is a critically important enabler of fundamental healthcare system changes that may provide a solution to our current, severe problem of rising costs and national deficit” (Payne et.al, 2012, p. 212). In this context, Religious must continue to explore its options regarding technology in order to improve its overall performance and quality of care through electronic health records and other alternatives that support effective outcomes for patients and improved efficiency for healthcare providers.

Knowledge Management: Among healthcare providers, knowledge management is a critical factor in the development of new approaches to improve healthcare delivery through knowledge sharing and integration at all levels (Sharma, Majahan, & Sharma, 2012). These factors represent an opportunity to examine the different areas whereby knowledge management is an effective promoter of quality and efficiency, including nursing practice and physician-nurse communication at the patient care level. These practices encourage healthcare professionals to share their knowledge across different areas with the intent to produce practical and reasonable outcomes for the organization as a whole.

Nursing Staff Performance in the Emergency Department

The implementation of nurse practitioners as key providers in the emergency department is likely to have a lasting impact on the efficiency of this team, given the challenges that they face in managing their patient populations effectively. These practices support the development of a strategy to incorporate nurse practitioners as part of the emergency department staffing plan to accommodate patient needs and to promote greater cost effectiveness within the emergency department setting (Jennings, Clifford, Fox, O’Connell, & Gardner, 2014). With this model, it is possible to develop a new approach to nursing care and delivery in the emergency department through the integration of advanced practice nurses to provide enhanced quality and treatment within this setting (Jennings et.al, 2014). In addition, this model represents a means of understanding the different dynamics of care and treatment that are unique to the emergency department that may be coordinated through advanced practice nursing leadership and guidance in this environment (Jennings et.al, 2014).

Patient Management

Managing patient populations effectively at Religious requires a high level understanding of the needs of these groups and how patients might benefit from the tools and resources that are available to support patient care outcomes effectively and without restrictions. Therefore, the organization must continue to focus on its efforts to be proactive in advancing patient needs and in supporting new directions for growth and change within the organization. It is expected that a unique model of patient management will begin with the improved utilization of technology in order to track patients more effectively and to be proactive in supporting patient needs in the desired manner through specific tools and resources that will specifically support their care across all hospital units. These factors will promote a greater level of quality and efficiency within the patient care environment and aim to enhance outcomes through electronic health records and other resources. In addition, it will support the treatment of all patients with the respect that they deserve within the healthcare environment.

Public Image and Market Share

In order for Religious to experience a resurgence in its public image and to gain in market share, the organization must continue to focus on excellence in high quality care and treatment for all patients in a somewhat crowded region where there are several options available for healthcare. The organization must focus on its efforts to advance its support for all patients and to minimize its secular roots. However, this may be difficult to accomplish due to the challenges of its actual name, but it represents an opportunity to explore other areas to improve its visibility and branding, perhaps through differentiation or other capabilities that will have a lasting impact on its reputation over time. The existence of “Religious” as the primary namesake of the organization may be challenging in some respects because of its connotation, but it is an issue that may be overcome with the appropriate marketing strategy and evaluation of the patient population within the local area to determine how to best attract new patients and revenues. There are considerable factors related to the development of strategies to accommodate patients and to be effective in meeting these objectives, but Religious may be able to advance its outcomes through a practical approach to marketing the organization towards its key strengths, while also minimizing its weaknesses in areas where they do not possess the same level of support and knowledge as their competitors.

Technology-Based Data Collection Strategies

Data collection regarding patients is a highly sensitive issue for healthcare organizations, and Religious is no different in this respect. Therefore, the organization must continue to focus on collecting and retaining patient data through electronic data records in order to accomplish the necessary goals and objectives. It is believed that these factors will play an important role in shaping the type of patients that are typically seen by the organization and in supporting a framework that will facilitate data collection that is both safe and secure. These efforts will acknowledge that data collection is a complex process that requires continuous innovation and support from a knowledgeable and experienced team of professionals who manage this data and aim to provide data security as best as possible.

Conclusion

Religious faces a number of difficult challenges in its efforts to be successful and sustainable as a premier healthcare organization. Therefore, in order to accomplish these objectives, it is important to identify specific tools and resources that will aim to support the organization in its efforts to improve its overall performance and to be competitive in supporting patient care outcomes in a successful manner. Areas such as employee commitment, knowledge management, and technology must be examined in order to improve patient care quality and to be effective in meeting patient care needs, using cost effective measures to accomplish these objectives. At the same time, the organization must improve its public image and visibility in order to overcome any deficits that exist with respect to its branding and overall image to the general public. These factors will support the continued growth and development of the organization to fulfill its mission and to be successful in providing high quality care to its patients at all times.

References

Jennings, N., Clifford, S., Fox, A. R., O’Connell, J., & Gardner, G. (2014). The impact of nurse practitioner services on cost, quality of care, satisfaction and waiting times in the emergency department-a systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies.

Payne, T. H., Bates, D. W., Berner, E. S., Bernstam, E. V., Covvey, H. D., Frisse, M. E., … & Ozbolt, J. (2013). Healthcare information technology and economics. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 20(2), 212-217.

Persson, S. (2014). How readiness for strategic change affects employee commitment and flexibility: considering type of organizational culture.

Sharma, M., Mahajan, R., & Sharma, R. (2012). Using Knowledge Management to improve performance: A case for Indian healthcare delivery system. Knowledge Globalization Institute, Pune, India, 243-250.