Regional Medical Center
John Kausch is the CEO of West Florida Regional Medical Center (WFRMC), a large-for-profit hospital. This facility is located in Pensacola, an area with intense competition and tons of services. He is evaluating a continuous quality (CQI) program that the hospital has implemented in order to address issues of improvement in outcomes. WFRMC also owns and operates an off-site psychiatric facility with 89 beds and the 58 bed Rehabilitation Institute of West Florida. WFRMC is currently in the process of constructing their new cancer center. WFRMC has two local competitors and the majority of its patients are treated at discounted prices. WFRMC faces many procedural problems in its nursing and pharmacy departments.
Over a 58-day period, $16,800 charges had been lost related to IV solutions not being charged when being administered to the patients. In the nursing department, IV solutions are not being properly documented in the Medical Administration Record (MAR). This lack of documentation is not allowing the pharmacy to bill for these IV solutions and the pharmacy is recognizing this as a lost charge. The procedural problem is also causing unnecessary work for the pharmacy and staff on the nursing floor. To address this issue, WFRMC had its continuous quality-improvement (CQI) team track and identify the issue.
Due to the large amount of missing charges, the CQI team saw that many patient reports are not getting into patient’s medical records in a timely manner. This makes it hard on the physicians causing an inefficient work setting for them. It also causes delays in the patient’s discharge which means that the hospital will be losing money for the patient’s excessive days. In addition, it also causes a higher cost without a higher reimbursement for the WFRMC. A solution for the patient’s records not being put in the medical records in a timely manner would be to create a universal system for charting. Thus, developing a single system will help to avoid the medical
Over a 58-day period, $16,800 charges had been lost related to IV solutions not being charged when being administered to the patients. In the nursing department, IV solutions are not being properly documented in the Medical Administration Record (MAR). This lack of documentation is not allowing the pharmacy to bill for these IV solutions and the pharmacy is recognizing this as a lost charge. The procedural problem is also causing unnecessary work for the pharmacy and staff on the nursing floor. To address this issue, WFRMC had its continuous quality-improvement (CQI) team track and identify the issue.
Due to the large amount of missing charges, the CQI team saw that many patient reports are not getting into patient’s medical records in a timely manner. This makes it hard on the physicians causing an inefficient work setting for them. It also causes delays in the patient’s discharge which means that the hospital will be losing money for the patient’s excessive days. In addition, it also causes a higher cost without a higher reimbursement for the WFRMC. A solution for the patient’s records not being put in the medical records in a timely manner would be to create a universal system for charting. Thus, developing a single system will help to avoid the medical