In an article co-written with Rhonda Anderson, RN, DNSc, FAAN, FACHE for the October 2009 issue of Nursing Economic$, Dr. Karlene Kerfoot, Chief Nurse Executive at Aurora Health Care, stated, “the role and function of nurses in acute care settings must be supported by evidence related to outcomes.” Noting that “evidence-based staffing goes beyond ‘filling a hole’ in the schedule and the concept that ‘a nurse is a nurse is a nurse,’” Anderson and Kerfoot assert that in a pay-for-performance world “we need the right nurse for the right patient at the right time to meet … safety and quality outcomes.”
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Aurora Health Care:
A Leader in Evidence-Based Staffing
Categories: General
Evidence-Based Staffing: Now is the Time
The following is condensed from Dr. Birmingham’s article in the June, 2010 issue of Nurse Leader, available online to subscribers, at the magazine’s website.
Working directly with patients at every moment of every day, nurses can play a transformative role in raising the value of care. When the right nurses are assigned to the right patients, at the right time, outcomes are improved, costs are reduced, and patient, staff and physician satisfaction are increased. Evidence-based staffing models are key to achieving these transformative benefits, and can be implemented using existing information and technology.
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Categories: General
Managing Inpatient Cost and Quality
Part 1: Length of Stay
The other day I heard that even with increased taxes and program cutbacks, within a few years the rising costs of medical care would overcome those efforts to keep the US financially healthy. While we might not have “signed up” to solve the country’s financial problems, you can bet that those who did sign up to solve them will be putting huge pressure on the health care industry to control costs, while maintaining care quality.
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Categories: Administration, Clairvia For, Finance, General, IT, Nursing, Physicians, Quality Care
Clairvia: Transformational change through Care Value Management
March 1, 2010 is a day of transformation for our company. Through three decades of developing and implementing software solutions for the healthcare industry, we have focused on optimizing staff assignments and scheduling. The name by which our company has been known, AtStaff, reflected that focus. Now, with an understanding of the positive results our clients have achieved through working with us, and inspired by a new mission, we are changing our name to Clairvia and taking on a new role as champions of Care Value Management.
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Categories: General
Controlling Costs: Lots of questions; any answers?
Like most people, I’ve been following the Healthcare Reform debate. A year ago, when it all began, we seemed to be about two problems — access and costs. But all the action to date has been around access – with the insurance industry in the cross hairs. Once something happens there, however, the attention will surely shift to costs, which I think will make access look like a much easier problem.
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Categories: Administration, Clairvia For, Finance, General, IT, Nursing, Physicians, Quality Care
Reducing Variance Is Key to Increasing Value
The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been instructed to “provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in healthcare spending.” As HHS seeks ways to get more for less, most of us believe value based purchasing (VBP) could be a transformational agent of change. In the article Healthcare reformers are focusing on value; are you?, published in the August, 2009 issue of Healthcare Financial Management, authors Hal Andrew and Gunter Wessels describe the proposed VBP programs, the challenges they pose to hospital executives, and some proactive steps leaders can take to maintain high performance on outcomes measures while controlling costs.
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Categories: Administration, Finance, General, IT, Nursing, Physicians, Quality Care
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