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The Joint Commission has identified falls as an issue within hospitals nationwide. In-hospital falls are a significant clinical, legal, and regulatory problem and are noted to be one of the leading causes of preventable injuries that occur within the hospital setting. Injuries can occur at any age; however, the severity of the injury increases with age, with patients over age 65 at higher risk for severe injury or death. Reducing in-hospital falls is imperative to deliver appropriate, safe care to patients. Developing and implementing evidence-based fall prevention programs within the hospital setting is essential in reducing falls. Hospitals must identify patients who are at risk of falling. Proper and consistent assessment, communication with colleagues on a patient's fall history, current status, and medications, and a team approach are essential for a patient-focused program. Several tools can be used to prevent falls or limit injury if a fall occurs. Proper use of tools, such as bed alarms, chair alarms, fall mats, and fall risk alerts on the chart, door, and in patient's rooms, is critical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the introduction of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, hospitals have been under pressure to reduce their readmission rates by providing quality post-discharge care and avoiding financial penalties. Although some readmissions are expected and planned, the majority are not, and these additional costs have created a financial strain on the federal government and the hospital systems. Decreasing readmission rates is pivotal to the ever-increasing healthcare costs in the United States and the population's overall health. Readmission rates are highest in Medicare and Medicaid patients, high-risk populations, and low socioeconomic communities due to additional challenges they face once leaving the hospital. One intervention that could decrease these rates is incorporating telehealth in transition care management. Telehealth has shown to be a sustainable and effective method to provide post-discharge care to patients with a higher risk of readmission using different forms of technology. With comprehensive telehealth training, successful remote medical and social guidance can be an option to help reduce admissions in high-risk populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High hospital readmission rates indicate inadequate facility performance, contributing to elevated healthcare costs resulting in an industry-wide effort to decrease the frequency. The objective of this paper is to perform a literature review to evaluate successful discharge practices and identify unutilized strategies which could be implemented within the organization to reduce the readmission rate. Findings suggest the variables most relevant to being discharged from an inpatient unit and maintaining psychiatric stability were associated with three areas. First, access to services that could assist with behavioral health and general life challenges, the need for social connection, and lastly, timely access to behavioral health services. The findings clearly show that the readmission rate is not only impacted by the facility's efforts but is tightly connected to the resources available to the patient upon discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Admissions are critical for the financial survival of community, acute care hospitals. Through the review of multiple peer-reviewed articles, research is conducted on the critical role of an Emergency Department ("ED") for the success of a hospital. The review of literature supports the monitoring and continuous improvement of ED quality measures, and it finds the common belief that the ED is a loss leader to be false. Next, potential solutions to the problem are discussed, including the need for increased volume and prevention of patients leaving without being seen. To conclude, a proposed plan to implement the solutions is discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the non-urgent use of the Emergency Department (ED) and the impact it has on both healthcare organizations and patient care. Emergency Departments are a vital part of the healthcare system seeing on average 27 million patients per year. Of those 27 million, 18 million visits are considered nonurgent. As costs associated with healthcare continue to rise, identifying ways to cut down on these non-urgent visits will benefit both healthcare systems and patients alike. This project seeks to offer solutions that can help healthcare organizations mitigate these factors in order to reduce inappropriate use of the emergency department as well as better serve the needs of their community. Overall, the goal of this project is to understand the needs of the patients within their community, reduce spending and offer solutions that are sustainable for generations to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety and employee retention are pressing issues for healthcare administrators. The theories of leadership, as evaluated on the spectrum from Transactional Leadership to Transformational Leadership, can provide an influential platform for organizational culture to improve safety and employee retention in the healthcare industry. A review of the literature on Transactional and Transformational Leadership demonstrated the components of employee retention to include psychological distress, psychological empowerment, burnout, job satisfaction, work engagement, absenteeism, and employee intention to stay or leave. The components of safety in the healthcare industry as related to Transactional and Transformational Leadership were defined as psychosocial working conditions, safety compliance, safety participation, adverse patient outcomes, medication safety, and quality of care. This illuminates the correlation between Transformational Leadership and the improved outcomes of safety and employee retention while supporting the negative effects of Transactional Leadership on safety and employee retention in the healthcare industry. These findings are relevant to all facets of healthcare administrators seeking to improve safety and employee retention in their organizations through leadership styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many healthcare organizations experience increasing supply costs on a yearly basis, including Physician Preference Items (PPI) that account for a sizeable portion of a hospital's supply costs. This puts a significant financial strain on the organization and can impact planning and budgeting for the year. This paper aims to contribute a review of the literature surrounding Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO) and the implementation plan on how to create a regional GPO in order to reduce an organization's supply costs. The literature review reveals that GPOs are highly effective in reducing supply costs and bringing in revenue in the form of administrative fees for the organization. It also proves that the advantages of a GPO outweigh the disadvantages and that physician input is needed to successfully implement supply contracts through a GPO. Consequently, the literature suggests that by being a part of a GPO, hospitals and healthcare organizations can reduce their supply costs and save their organizations money. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to review the state of price transparency efforts for health care services within the industry including the need for price transparency and the benefits and challenges currently facing price transparency measures. The paper also examines the current landscape of price transparency measures to understand the different solutions that exist to facilitate transparency, and compares the solutions in use among various hospitals within the Houston area for their effectiveness. Finally, a price transparency model will be proposed as a solution that can be standardized for use within the industry, with a discussion for applying this price transparency concept in a hospital setting and possible issues that could arise with the proposed implementation of the price transparency solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2013, University Medical Center (UMC) Health System made the decision to transition from The Joint Commission (TJC) accreditation to DNV GL - Healthcare. This decision was made in order to focus more on Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) strategic imperatives while aligning best with Lean Six Sigma and Quality Management frameworks. This was the catalyst to implementing the hospital's first electronic Contract Management System (eCMS). This paper will give a background into the decisions for the change in accrediting agencies, selecting an eCMS system, and the benefits the system has provided the organization since its inception. Effective contract management is a necessity for any organization. Technology innovations have allowed for more efficient contract management through the use of automated workflow and process integration. Through the implementation of the eCMS, UMC was able to streamline and standardize processes, increase productivity through workflow design and increase efficiency to achieve higher levels of quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]