Introduction to the Healthcare System

Hospitals, clinic and community

health agencies can be very different from other work environments.
Healthcare systems are complex and there are many things you need to
know about types of hospital systems, patient care, insurance, healthcare
providers and legal issues. This tutorial will help you learn basic healthcare
concepts so you can be successful on the job and understand the system.
Why do you need to understand the healthcare system?
You need to know about the healthcare system so you can be effective on
the job. The image below shows the different groups you will be working
with. As you work with the healthcare team, you will need to know about
hospital systems, types of care, and the roles of each member of the
healthcare team. As you work with patients, you will need to understand
different types of insurance, how to help uninsured patients and how to
protect patient rights and privacy. You also need to know what community
resources are available and how to access those services for patients.
Learning Objectives
After you complete the tutorial, you will be able to:
Describe the differences between private, public and non-profit
hospital systems
Define types of patient care including primary care, specialty care and
emergency care
Explain how insurance works
Identify types of private insurance plans and public insurance
programs
Identify the roles and responsibilities of various members of the
healthcare team
Describe the Patient Bill of Rights
 Explain why it is importaLet's start by looking at different aspects of
the healthcare system. >>>Colorado Patient Navigator Training ProgramDenver Health

Creating a Patient-Centered Healthcare System Healthcare is changing.

Patient needs are changing. Government regulation is changing. With an
evolving landscape and overwhelming expectations, Cleveland Clinic has
begun a transformation of its healthcare system that meets the needs of this
changing environment. Access Opening the Front Doors Multiple access
points are essential to a strong healthcare system. Cleveland Clinic believes
providing access at all points along the healthcare continuum will reduce
cost and empower patients. Same-Day Access Using business intelligence
tools has reduced wait time for new patient appointments from 14 to 7 days,
adding 100,000 visits and increasing patient satisfaction scores. We use a
centralized scheduling system to quickly offer available appointments to
patients within 24 hours, 7 days a week. Reducing Wait Times Cleveland
Clinic has implemented several innovative strategies to ensure optimal time
management for giving and receiving care. Patient Tracking GPS A
patient-tracking system has helped reduce wait times by as much as 20%.
Chemotherapy Wait Times The Taussig Cancer Institute reduced the overall
wait for chemotherapy patients from more than 60 minutes to 20 minutes.
Follow up Appointments for Multiple Sclerosis After a root-cause analysis,
MS physicians and their team improved the average next available
appointment from 66 days in June 2008 to 27 days in April 2009. Cleveland
Clinic recently earned certification as a Patient-Centered Medical Home,
which is a model of care that emphasizes enhanced care through open
scheduling, expanded hours and communication between patients,
physicians and staff. Integrating to Bring Better Outcomes, Better
Experience Integrating a healthcare system ensures the right patient gets to
the right facility at the right time to get the right care. Integrating ICUs
Cleveland Clinic is known for taking patients other hospitals wont. Cleveland
Clinic recently integrated more than 40 intensive care units, standardizing
protocols to improve quality and decrease length of stay.

Physician Integration Cleveland Clinics current effort to improve

collaboration, share best practices and establish consistent protocols and
metrics among physicians throughout its system is resulting in significant
improvements: better knowledge of patients and their needs and greater
efficiency in the delivery of healthcare, which is resulting in improved
physician communications via electronic medical records and streamlined
services. Collaborating Across Healthcare Systems Collaborations with other
healthcare entities, both locally and nationally, have strengthened Cleveland
Clinics ability to provide quick, effective, coordinated and efficient access to
care. Regional Trauma Network Cleveland Clinics unique partnership with
MetroHealth Medical Center on the Northern Ohio Trauma System (NOTS)
connects the communitys Level I and II adult trauma centers by sharing
quality data and clinical best practices to improve patient outcomes.
 Better Health, Greater Cleveland Using information technology to improve
patient care, Cleveland Clinic, together with MetroHealth Medical Center and
others, received more than $1 million over three years from the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation to improve healthcare for patients with chronic illness.
Cleveland Clinic provides ongoing diabetes management care to more than
10,000 patients. Creating a Patient-Centered Healthcare System Operational
Excellence Right Patient, Right Care, Right Place Healthcare has changed
since the days when a single hospital could provide decent care for every
medical need. Medicine has grown more specialized. Surgery is more
complex. New techniques have long learning curves and those who know the
latest techniques gravitate to specialized centers of excellence.
Integration of System Resources Cleveland Clinic has organized itself into
a continuum of care delivery model that provides patients with the
appropriate level of care for each phase of their condition. Main campus is
a high acuity hospital designed to meet the needs of very ill patients in need
of medical and/or surgical intervention. Cleveland Clinics nine regional
hospitals are conveniently located in surrounding communities, making them
ideal for outpatient surgery and specialties that require repeat visits, like
obstetrics. To better serve the Cleveland suburbs with primary care
services, Cleveland Clinic operates 17 family health centers, staffed with
Cleveland Clinic primary care physicians, as well as medical and surgical
specialists. Critical Care Transport Staffed with Cleveland Clinic
personnel, time from wheels up to a Cleveland Clinic ICU may be less than 90
minutes, depending on the location of the referring hospital. The CCT team
transported 4,391 patients from 36 states and 14 countries in 2009.
Hospital Transfers Cleveland Clinic has created a centralized hospital
transfer center to move patients in and out of all of our facilities and from
non-Cleveland Clinic facilities. Staffed 24/7, it is responsible for
approximately 1,100 transfers a month system-wide.

Bed Management By utilizing a computer-based, realtime bed tracking

system, Cleveland Clinic is able to place the right patient in the right place.
By allowing staff to see all patients in the units, we have seen operating
room holds nearly eliminated. Creating Accountability New tools and
resources are essential to increasing transparency and accountability.
Dashboard Cleveland Clinic has created real-time transparent snapshots of
key performance metrics on dashboards to help monitor critical system
information such as bed utilization, readmissions, and patient experience
scores that can be used in annual performance evaluations and to implement
process change. Quality Providing quality healthcare is critical to
transforming the health of our communities and reducing cost. Cleveland
Clinic is involved in a variety of initiatives and collaborations to improve
healthcare quality. Annual Outcomes Cleveland Clinic publishes 16
outcomes books with our data on procedures, mortality, complications and
innovations to be transparent.

Electronic Medical Record Cleveland Clinic gives physicians access to

critical information related to more than six million patient records. To
ensure safety, every electronic prescription provides physicians with alerts
to drug-drug interaction and/or drug allergies. Creating a Safer Environment
Because we know that patient safety begins on the front line, Cleveland
Clinic is creating a culture of safety that empowers employees and
physicians to provide a safe environment of care. Reducing Infection To
address Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI),
Cleveland Clinic implemented a program that focuses on compliance and
evaluation of data resulting in a 25% reduction of CLABSI in the Intensive
Care Units from January 2009 to June 2010, with some units achieving
reductions greater than 40%. Hand Hygiene While striving to reach 100%,
Cleveland Clinics hand hygiene compliance rate has been above 90% for the
past nine months, thanks to a comprehensive hand hygiene education
program that includes monitoring and accountability. Better Hand-off
Communications Cleveland Clinic uses SBAR (Situation, Background,
Assessment, and Recommendation), a standardized approach to information
sharing among caregivers to ensure that patient information is consistent
and accurate, especially during critical events, shift handoffs, or patient
transfers. Through quality, improved access, and operational excellence,
Cleveland Clinic continues to build a healthcare system that can respond to
the historic realignments in our industry and the economy. As we react to the
changing landscape and create real value for patients and their families, we
serve as a model for all healthcare organizations struggling to do the same.
The future presents an opportunity for us all, and Cleveland Clinic strives to
lead the way

ABBREVATION

Frank Federico, RPh, is concerned about abbreviations and acronyms

from a patient safety point of view. Federico is content director for
the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
One area that particularly concerns him is the use of abbreviations for
medications.

Federico says one of the more serious safety concerns is the fact that the
meaning of an abbreviation may differ from one hospital to another. For
example, depending on where you work, MTX could stand for either
methotrexate or mitoxantrone (different drugs that are both used to
treat certain kinds of cancer).
CONCLUSION

. Therefore the developed system in this research is an integrated health

care management system, which is a web based computer application based
on an interactive database to manage the health care information through a
friendly interface and able to use on the web browser. The benefit of this
system is keep tracking for all the health care information in one system and
it's very easy to use and easy for maintenance. In addition it's accessible
online with sturdy security. Moreover the patient will be able to use the
system online and confirm their own appointment by themselves using their
own username and password. On the other hand the system enables data
analysis and generates powerful and helpful reports supported by a colorful
diagram for all the health care information, which help the health care
management to observe all the health care process closely.