Critical Feedback Loops Found in the Mayo Clinic Organization

Electronic Prescribing is a critical feedback loop that helps maintain master patient index along with routes inquires and allows enrolled pharmacies to route prescriptions to desired locations. The pharmacy receives the benefit of quickly receiving prescription status and is able to then communicate to the prescriber the prescription fill status as well as whether the medication is covered under the patient's insurance or if it must be paid for.

Things like patient information, history, and eligibility are passed back and forth from the pharmacy to the pharmacy benefit manager to the prescriber. What would normally take longer now happens within minutes. Patients remain satisfied with the service and get quick access to their medications. The loop exists from the communication that exists with the pharmacy and the prescriber. A doctor, nurse, or other healthcare professional licensed to prescribe medication, needs a continual pathway to send prescription information.

This helps avoid confusion for pharmacies if pharmacies have questions for eligibility or change in dosage and allows customers the convenience of picking up their medications without having to worry about waiting or physically handing over the prescription. Organizations like the Mayo Clinic, implement strategies that reduce costs and promote higher quality care for patients. Below is the diagram displaying the critical feedback loop of pharmacy and prescriber.

Electronically sent prescriptions help facilitate feedback and communication, letting the prescriber and the pharmacy know quickly if they made an error that warrants a remedy. Patients often demand convenience and less wait times. Electronic prescriptions facilitate this and allow patients to pick which pharmacies they want their prescriptions sent to. It also helps avoid illegal activities surrounding prescriptions as patients sometimes forge prescriptions in order to get other medications. A paper prescription can easily be altered so the prescription becomes for something else.

Although it is not a consistently common occurrence, it does exist and electronic prescribing reduces the likelihood of it happening. This is because the pharmacy knows immediately what the prescriber wants for the patient in terms of medication. The pharmacy also has the option of communicating with the prescriber in case of an error (or to confirm prescription). E-prescribing is set to grow in the next few years.

"The electronic prescribing systems market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26% from 2012 to 2017, at which point it is expected to reach $794 million" (Leventhal, 2015). Another critical feedback loop expressed in organizations like the Mayo Clinic is quality health care in relation to care-planning and care-delivery. "Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) capture how patients perceive their health and their health care; their use in clinical research is longstanding" (Leventhal, 2015, p. 1). PROs are necessary in assessing the quality of care given in an healthcare organization.

Hospitals for example, require periodic evaluations to see if medical staff are not only providing excellent healthcare, but also to avoid unnecessary spending and reduce error rates. The diagram below explains how incentivres and protocols affect how implementation transpires in any given situation. Standard of care thus becomes based on best practices stemming from research and studies that highlight what aspects of job functions and strategy are effective and which are not. Goals and benchmarks help propagate performance analysis which is a critical step in the feedback loop.

Ongoing assessment facilitates change and progression in any healthcare setting. Goals help focus objectives and plans. The cause itself is examination, practice, and assessment, and the effect or the anticipated effect is a higher level of care. Quality care keeps hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities running as patients feel comfortable and happy with their treatment and care. This feedback loop provides vital understanding of.