Healthcare Finance Efficiency and Effectiveness: Three Perspectives

Healthcare Finance

Efficiency and Effectiveness: Three Perspectives

Define and describe efficiency and effectiveness. What are the differences between efficiency and effectiveness? How can a healthcare organization use this information?

Efficiency refers to the accomplishment of a task or a set of tasks in the most economical fashion, both in terms of time spent and resources utilized. By contrast, effectiveness refers to the ambition of achieving the best possible results from completion of a task or a set of tasks. What they have in common is that they are both critical dimensions of the provision of healthcare. However, there may be some imbalance in how they are applied.

This is shown in an article by Treven (2012) which indicates that some healthcare practitioners view effectiveness and efficiency as being at odds with one another. According to Treven, "the author of a recent NY Times opinion article, Gilbert Welch, argues that we are not putting enough effort into challenging standard practices in medicine, but instead focus too much on accommodating and streamlining those practices already established, and on coming up with ever new diagnostic and screening tools, treatments and procedures to spend health care money on." (Treven, p. 1)

The focus on streamlining seems to be based on economic imperatives. In other words, many hospitals and healthcare facilities are more concerned with moving patients through their system and toward discharge than they are with achieving the best possible healthcare results. The consequence of this is that too many patients are receiving limited attention and inadequate treatment, especially with the pressure often placed by insurance companies to limit hospital stays and treatment options.

A healthcare organization should use the information here to recognize that effectiveness and efficiency are not counter-intuitive to one another. Hospitals need to focus on effectiveness of care. The result will be fewer return patients and, consequently, a more efficient operation. Simultaneously, strategies for improving efficiency should be patient-centered.

Works Cited:

Treven, M. (2012). Efficiency vs. Effectiveness in Healthcare. MedCrunch.

Student 2

Define and describe efficiency and effectiveness. What are the differences between efficiency and effectiveness? How can a healthcare organization use this information?

Efficiency and effectiveness are two distinct priorities in any organizational setting. But in the best organizations, these qualities will work together to provide desirable outcomes. This is especially true in field of healthcare. Here, efficiency is the pace and expedience with which procedures and treatment strategies are carried out. This will typically have direct financial implications for a healthcare organization.

Effectiveness in a healthcare setting refers to the quality of treatment and the outcomes that result from this treatment. A positive way for healthcare organizations to use this information would be to design strategies of patient treatment that incorporate both. The article by Cipriano (2011) asserts that we needn't choose between efficiency and effectiveness. To the contrary, our healthcare system will only improve if we find meaningful ways of achieving both. According to Cipriano, this requires us to focus on healthcare outcomes rather than strictly on processes and procedures. The study by Cipriano aruges that "healthcare transformation must focus on changes in health outcomes rather than simply process reformation. A focus on outcomes requires a comprehensive outlook that considers the impact of multiple, inter-related processes within the care delivery methodology." (p. 3)

Outcome driven treatment essentially means that effectiveness is measured entirely according to the patient's experience.

Works Cited:

Cipriano, P. (2011). Achieving Value in Healthcare Through Efficiency and Effectiveness. Dell, Inc.

Student 3:

Define and describe efficiency and effectiveness. What are the differences between efficiency and effectiveness? How can a healthcare organization use this information?

The healthcare system in the United States is undergoing massive reform right now. Among the many objectives of the Affordable Care Act are the imperatives to create greater efficiency and effectiveness in the healthcare system. The former of these refers to the speed and economic management of treatment while the latter refers to the consequence of that treatment.

Hospitals should use this information as a way of improving their efficiency without sacrificing their patients. The Academy of Health (2006) says that one of the biggest flaws in our healthcare system is that many hospitals work to achieve efficiency but lack consistent ways of measuring it. The Academy of Health reports that "measurement of efficiency is challenging due to lack of definition of terms, lack of an agreed upon framework of efficiency, differential access to data, and unresolved technical issues such as sampling methods." (Academy Health, p. 2)

The outcome is that efficiency is pursued haphazardly and with a negative impact on patients. The drive for efficiency prevents nurses and physicians from devoting the time and energy necessary to produce ideal treatment conditions for every patient. Here, effectiveness of treatment is lost. The hope is that with the focus of current legal reforms on making hospitals more accountable, efficiency and effectiveness will be seen as having equal importance.

Works Cited:

Academy Health. (2006). Efficiency in Health Care: What Does It Mean? The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Part B:

After giving consideration to this subject, I am inclined to believe quite strongly that we shouldn't find ourselves in the position of choosing between efficiency and effectiveness. Instead, these are two characteristics that should inherently apply to our healthcare system. Today, hospitals are increasingly being held accountable for their effectiveness. Programs related to the Affordable Care Act promise to penalize hospitals that don't effectively make improvements in certain areas such as the reduction of preventable readmissions or the assurance that discharged patients have received the full scope of required treatments and patient education.