Healthcare Quality Measurement Compare one measurement that you identified in the Week 2 Discussion with one measurement outlined by the CMS restricted reimbursements and explain how these two measures demonstrate evidence of compliance with their respective quality measurement standards.

In the Week 2 Discussion, we considered the importance of personnel-focused quality measures in rating healthcare performance. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) maintain a wide range of these measurement types. Accordingly, "of the quality measures currently in use by CMS, 153 address physician and other professional behavior as part of the 2009 PQRI measure set." (CMS, p. 6) This degree of attention suggests that there are many correlations between achieving positive treatment outcomes and providing meaningful frameworks, standards and oversight to healthcare providers. These system end-users will have a defining impact on treatment quality and, increasingly in the current regulatory climate, the impact of reimbursement penalties.

For instance, measuring nursing performance has a direct correlation to actual performance quality if executed properly. Rather than being perceived as a penalty-driven system, the effectively oriented performance measurement should raise morale and improve occupational commitment. The study by Albanese et al. (2010) indicates that nurses must be actively involved in the process of their own evaluation in order for this approach...

According to the study, "when nurses are educated about performance and quality measures, are engaged in identifying outcomes and collecting meaningful data, are active participants in disseminating quality reports, and are able to recognize the value of these activities, data become one with practice." (Albanese et al., p. 226)
In spite of the value of such measures, the shift in regulatory focus has moved toward transitions measurements with an interest in reducing mortality and readmissions following hospitalization. These measures have been paired with heightening reimbursement penalties. As to these penalties, the CMS reports that "when combined with the proper incentives, whether financial or non-financial, the use of quality measures could foster better transitions and coordination of care in two ways. First, such "transition measures" may expand the unit of measurement, whether the timeframe or the number of actors. For instance, instead of measures that look only within a specific hospitalization, a transition measure looks at a specified period of time before and/or after that hospitalization such as hospital readmission or 30 day mortality, events taking place outside the timeframe of the actual hospitalization." (CMS, p. 8)

2. From a systems perspective, discuss how these different measures affect quality outcomes, support ethical principles, and influence patient care and nursing practice

The measures discussed above and the host of others now in use in the healthcare industry are collectively aimed at improving both treatment outcomes and accountability. The hope is that with greater accountability will come a greater ability to distill and eliminate costly and even…