Robert C Browne | PubMed Health

PubMed2003

The power of collaboration: using internet-based tools to facilitate networking and benchmarking within a consortium of academic health centers.

The University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) represents a strategic alliance of 169 academic health centers and associated institutions engaged in knowledge sharing and idea-generation. The use of the Internet as a tool in the delivery of UHC's products and services has increased dramatically over the past year and will continue to increase during the foreseeable future. This paper examines the current state of UHC-member institution driven tools and services that utilize the Web as a fundamental component in their delivery. The evolution of knowledge management at UHC, its management information and reporting tools, and expansion of e-commerce provide real world examples of Internet use in health care delivery and management. Health care workers are using these Web-based tools to help manage rising costs and optimize patient outcomes. Policy, technical, and organizational issues must be resolved to facilitate rapid adoption of Internet applications.

Academic Medical Centers↗

PubMed2002

Benchmarking the billing office.

Benchmarking data related to human and financial resources in the billing process allows an organization to allocate its resources more effectively. Analyzing human resources used in the billing process helps determine cost-effective staffing. The deployment of human resources in a billing office affects timeliness of payment and ability to maximize revenue potential. Analyzing financial resource helps an organization allocate those resources more effectively.

Academic Medical Centers↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Outpatient quality improvement in academic faculty practice plans: does it exist?

The purpose of this study was to (a) investigate the extent to which academic faculty practice plans (FPPs) are currently involved in ambulatory care quality improvement (QI), (b) describe the structure of QI initiatives at outpatient FPPs, and (c) delineate facilitators and barriers to development of FPP outpatient QI initiatives. Members of the Steering Committee of the Group Practice Council of the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), representing the leadership of 88 FPPs, were asked to respond to a 38-item Web-based questionnaire during February and March 2003. The survey elicited information on the organizational characteristics of FPPs, their current degree of engagement in outpatient QI activities, and factors driving interest and barriers impeding efforts to conduct outpatient QI initiatives. Descriptive statistics for all variables of interest were performed. Responses were received from 33 participants believed to represent at least 28 of the total 88 FPP members of the UHC. Nearly all respondents indicated that some types of outpatient QI initiatives were currently taking place in their FPP. However, only 12% of respondents met 4 or more of the 6 criteria deemed to be essential to having a robust outpatient QI program. Among key QI indicators, one third of respondents reported that their FPP had a separate and distinct outpatient quality committee, and some one fifth had a budget for outpatient QI or financial incentives for outpatient clinics to engage in QI (or both). The majority of respondents stated that at least some departments in their FPP were collecting quality data. Most respondents reported that patient safety and external demand for outpatient QI were the "more important" factors driving QI efforts, whereas lack of human resources and other resources were the "more significant" barriers hindering QI initiatives. The results of the study suggest that, although FPPs showed a strong interest in outpatient QI initiatives, FPPs' efforts are still in an infancy phase and lag far behind inpatient performance measurement activities. Without appropriate resources, it appears unlikely that FPPs will be able to move the agenda forward to develop a quality culture and robust program of self-assessment and improvement in the outpatient setting.

Academic Medical Centers↗