November 1, 2011
Future Reimbursement Cuts Could Affect Healthcare Employment and Quality
By Debra Wood, RN, contributor
October 24, 2011 – While technology holds promise to improve efficiencies and outcomes, healthcare remains a people business, with high-quality care dependent on having enough nurses and other staff available to pick up subtle changes in patients’ conditions, ensure best practices are followed through and provide the care patients need. Yet with unemployment hovering around 9 percent, state and federal lawmakers are considering further cuts to government reimbursements.
“Cuts exacerbate problems,” said Jim Kaufman, Ph.D., vice president of public policy at the National Association of Children’s Hospitals in Alexandria, Va. “If you keep cutting, you eliminate efforts [to improve coordination to give the patient the most cost-effective, best quality care]. You will end up driving up costs in the long run.”
Quality must remain on the radar, since reimbursement will be more greatly tied to results, but at the same time organizations must find ways to reduce operating costs. The 2011 HealthLeaders Media Industry Survey of Finance Leaders showed a shift in priorities since 2009, when 68 percent of respondents cited quality and patient safety as their top priority. That slipped to 34 percent in 2011, with cost cutting now coming out as the top priority at 39 percent.
Before the 27th April 2010 swung around, Pippa Middleton had very little power around the world, now her bottom seems to be taking over!
Picking up a cup for joe before tending to her daily duties, 
