Change in Policy Term Paper

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality develops benchmarks which advise the operations of healthcare facilities across the State of Florida. In essence, the agency is an extension of the National Department of Health and Human Services. A reflection of its provision on perspectives such as demographic indicators, associated with the concept of care, assists in the realization of the status reflecting the position of Mercy Medical Centre. According to Rawlins (2014), health facilities such as Mercy Medical Center anticipate to have their dash indicators under the benchmarks developed by the regulatory authority. Admittedly, elemental concerns which include the readmission rates for a condition such as heart failure are several points above the national rates. In response, since the health facility is barely making progress on the errors attributed to medical and surgical services, there exists a need to reevaluate the operations of the facility with the hope of attaining performance indicators under the benchmarks offered by the state regulator (Capella University, n.d). Ideally, the registration of an opinion on the performance of the facility regarding the state’s expectations focuses on the improvements registered in 2015 and 2016.

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Mercy Medical Center registers notable progress on the management of labor and deliveries with cases of 100% reduction in errors associated with medication processes. Capella University (n.d) purports that the category receives a similar reduction in falls and patient injuries. The state of Florida makes a dedicated follow-up on cases which may extend injuries to the patients after treatment, where falls list among such concerns. A look into the orthopedics indicates a rise in the number of falls, and a lack of change in medication errors and patient injuries. In contrast, the State of Florida has its benchmarks on aspects, for instance, documentation errors placed at 100% mitigation (Capella University, n.d). Arguably, the performance of services at Mercy Medical Center manifests numerous areas which deserve improvements through the integration of alternative measures of advancement.

The contributions of the benchmarks as an indicator of the acceptance levels in the provision of care services remains exceeding pronounced. Exploring the interest of the factors which define the expectations of the desirable standards allows the health care facility to remain objective on the attainment of quality care. According to Gordon, Modayil, Pavlik, and Morris (2015), the need to explore the expectations of the healthcare beneficiaries assists in outlining the interests which define the scope of the engaged policies. Arguably, failure of achieving such standards suggests the potential hindrance of key stakeholders in enjoying the benefits of healthcare services. In the case of Mercy Health Center, the stakeholders on the receiving end would be the patients and the caregivers. Indeed, their participation in the promotion of reliable and effective healthcare policy is guided by their expectations of a functional healthcare system (Rawlins, 2014). Thus, the former stand to face hindrances in achieving quality healthcare while the latter risk fatigue or exposure to service harms arising from lack of adequate resources to promote safe practice or manageable patient ratios.

Implementing the changes suggests the need to explore the potential impact on resource allocation in relation to the interests of the facility. Ideally, Mercy Medical Center would need to adjust the management of its resources to allow the tapping of efficiency in the description of the application of the ideal resources. At the same time, the health facility would need to explore the interests of the adjustment from a training perspective where the skills of the human resource would undergo further training to achieve the desired outcomes against the identified benchmarks. Achieving such outcomes would focus on the ambitions of the developed policies (Brown & McIntyre, 2014). On expectation, the interests of the regulators would stem from the knowledge accredited to the participating stakeholders.

Ethical and Evidence-Based Strategies
Literature developed towards the improvement of the experience associated with healthcare services focuses on the potential adjustments arising from the administrative stakeholders and the reaction of the beneficiaries. Essentially, the literature emphasizes on aligning the existing services, improvement of operation infrastructure, and growth of skills sets manifesting considerable limitation. On assumption, the suggestions call for a prior analysis of the respective stakeholders’ expectations before the proposal of the suggestions. Whitlock (2016) explains that the abilities of a healthcare facility in ensuring the success of the respective proposal play a substantial role in shaping the possible suggestions extended to the facility. Indeed, the status of Mercy Medical Centre allows the facility to weather the demands of the proposals.

The sampled literature identifies suggestions proposed to the healthcare facilities from an impact perspective. Administrative adjustments concentrate on the expertise of the management in ensuring the workforce meets the margins that would lead to the realization of outcomes along or closer to the established benchmarks. Harvey and Kitson (2015) indicate that in some cases, the desire to achieve growth and efficiency in the operations of the respective care facilities tethers on the strategies engaged by the stakeholders. Proposals focusing on the staff explore both the skill levels and the depth of commitment to service delivery. In both cases, the existence of indicators of incompetence allows the introduction of potential adjustments modeled through the input of human resource division. Patient behavior highlights the interactive practices and the contribution from social education emphasizing on behavioral traits (Benabdallah et al., 2015). In either case, the implication of the suggestions towards meeting the established benchmarks is anchored on the abilities of the respective health facilities.

Implementation of the suggested proposals needs to focus on the practicability of the respective suggestions and its imposition on the expectation of the guiding laws and regulations. Arguably, the ability of Mercy Medical Center would focus on both the demands of the State of Florida and the Federal authority at large. According to Harvey and Kitson (2015), the need to explore such ambitions would encompass promoting stakeholders’ anticipations while appreciating the demands of the established benchmarks. Achieving a successful improvement strategy would entail making an appreciation of the ethical guidelines developed by both the state of Florida and Mercy Medical Center. Nonetheless, the prospective integration of concepts which include evidence-based care would assist in installing the impact anticipated by the health facility and the regulators (Gordon et al., 2015). In either case, the impact of the guiding ethics would involve examining the effect of the identified policy components and their aftermath on the performance improvement of the health facility.

Effects of Environmental Factors
The operations of a health facility focus on the need to explore factors such as the limitation of the environment of operations while underpinning the need to ensure its accommodation in the recommended suggestions. In the case of Mercy Medical Center, the perspective of the environment manifests during the consideration of the operations involved in the management of elements, which include medical waste, in the characterization of the suggested recommendation. Equally, the assimilation of organization policies as a premise in achieving mitigated outcomes which are negatively associated with the environment. A further review of the considered outcomes channels the expectations of the performance model on the anticipations of the State of Florida and the expected impact of the suggested advancements (Benabdallah et al., 2015). Ideally, the concern of environmental impact stands to have a slight effect on the implementation of the suggestions since they focus on the skills of the staff, and the resources extended to the healthcare facility.

The concern of resources would focus on perspectives such as the financing of the additional staff or the improvement of their skills through training. Arguably, the resources considered towards the attainment of the expertise of the staff would concentrate on the staffing and financial perspective. A further look into the supportive structures introduced to the staff to facilitate the attainment of an improved care service perspective would assist in identifying other resources such as support services and financial elements (Benabdallah et al., 2015). In either case, the success of the recommendations on the implementation of the suggested solutions to Mercy Medical Center involves integrating adequate resources towards the attainment of the desired outcomes while considering the possible impact on the existing environmental limitations.

Policy Guide
The implementation of the suggested recommendations would capitalize on the impact of hospital management as the supporting block in ensuring a comprehensive adoption prospect. The success of such an approach would augur with the existence of checks and balances throughout the implementation process. Gordon et al. (2015) argue that the integration of effective checks and controls involves examining the impact of the policies from a behavioral perspective of the involved healthcare facility. Among such checks include the installation of checks of potential controls which facilitate the introduction of measures which, in turn, assist in examining the performance of the initiated adjustments. A further review of the expectations of both the healthcare facility and the external regulator points on the need to explore a potential area of similarity which helps in the promotion of the checks and balances. Besides, the expectation of the suggested gains is captured through the appraisal of potential impacts manifesting from their implementation. Nonetheless, the need to explore the outcomes of the proposals would entail introducing checks and balances which ensure the attainment of the desired results.

Involved Stakeholders
Successful implementation of the suggested recommendations would benefit from the inclusion of various levels of stakeholders. Among the primary stakeholders include the hospital management and the staff. Indeed, their input has a direct impact on the expectation of the performance indicators attributed to Mercy Health Center. A further focus on the expectations of the primary stakeholders allows the introduction of their secondary counterparts who enforce the expectations from an external perspective. Secondary stakeholders include patients and the regulators as their opinion directly affects the functionality of the facility. Tertiary stakeholders such as rights organizations and communal outfits permit the attainment of a collective governance structure in the characterization of the expectations of operations at the healthcare facility. Benabdallah et al. (2015) expound that the comprehension of the proposed guidelines allows the healthcare facility to gain from the evaluation input extracted from the respective stakeholders with regards to the achievement of the desired outcome. At the same time, they facilitate the critique of the recommendations on factors such as being realistic on the anticipated effects of the involved healthcare facility.

References
Benabdallah, G., Alj, L., Benkirane, R., Soulaymani-Bencheikh, R., Cousins, D., Olsson, S., & Pal, S. N. (2015, Oct.). WHO guideline: Reporting and learning systems for medication errors: The role of Pharmacovigilance Centres. Drug Safety, 38(10), 939-939. Retrieved from www.researchgate.net/publication/291447332.
Brown, L. J., & McIntyre, E. L. (2014). The contribution of primary health care research, evaluation and development-supported research to primary health care policy and practice. Australian Journal of Primary Health, 20(1), 47–55. Doi: 10.1071/PY12058.
Capella University (n.d.). Dashboard and health care benchmark evaluation. Retrieved from http://media.capella.edu.library.capella.edu/CourseMedia/NHS6004/DashboardandHealthCareBenchmarkEvaluation/transcript.html.
Gordon, L., Modayil, M. V., Pavlik, J., & Morris, C. D. (2015). Collaboration with behavioral health care facilities to implement systemwide tobacco control policies—California, 2012. Preventing Chronic Disease, 12, E13. Doi: 10.5888/pcd12.140350.
Harvey, G., & Kitson, A. (2015). Translating evidence into healthcare policy and practice: Single versus multi-faceted implementation strategies – is there a simple answer to a complex question? International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 4(3), 123-126. Doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2015.54.
Rawlins, M. D. (2014). Engaging with health-care policy. The Lancet, 383, S7–8. Doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60048-9.
Whitlock, R. (2016, April 15). United States: Talking about the challenge of quality in health care policy development. Mondaq Business Briefing.