Optimizing care delivery: Quality and performance improvement
Rapidly rising health care costs and increased focus on patient outcomes and safety have ensured that “business as usual” is no longer acceptable or sustainable. Achieving the highest quality care for patients with congenital and acquired heart disease requires efficient and consistent application of evidence-based best practices. This requires physicians and health care organizations to reevaluate current practices and to employ performance improvement principles and strategies that have proven to be successful in other industries. This chapter highlights the importance of quality in today’s health care environment and details how quality and performance improvement marries with the traditional concept of evidence-based medicine to enhance care. The basics of performance improvement methodologies are reviewed, and improvement at the unit and organizational level is discussed. Finally, the importance of collaborative efforts in this complex patient population is presented.
