According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, quality improvement in health care can be defined as the systematic and ongoing efforts that lead to measurable improvement in service levels and the health status of targeted patient groups. For any hospital leader, the importance of these efforts should be clear in their ability to help improve the lives of as large a number of patients as possible.
Since therapy services, including physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, play a key role in the recovery process for patients in a hospital stay, it’s important to ensure that any comprehensive quality improvement effort includes this area. To ensure the best possible outcomes from both a patient care and administrative standpoint, many of the most successful hospital programs employ the assistance of a dedicated therapy services organization.
How a therapy services partner can help focus quality improvement efforts
Quality improvement efforts should focus on the key areas of increasing patient care, improving processes, working as a team and using data to gauge results. For therapy services programs, leveraging the resources, expertise and experience of a dedicated partner can help with quality improvement in the following specific ways:
- More efficient workflows
- Better data collection with upgraded software
- Expanded service offerings
- Training and development improvements
- Increased compliance support
The answer to why quality improvement is important to health care can become much clearer by implementing these changes. Your hospital program can see increased patient satisfaction, increased revenue and decreased expenses, turning your physical, occupational and speech therapy services department into a positive contributor to your organization.
Experience the Alliance difference for quality improvement in health care
Alliance Physical Therapy has spent decades in the therapy services sector. We’ve helped hospitals across the United States make the quality improvements they need to give their patients the level of care they deserve. If you’d like to learn more about how we can help your facility, contact us today. We’ll be happy to help you schedule an in-depth assessment to help you identify your top areas for quality improvement.