Entities mandating knowledge-based healthcare delivery and organizational influence

With the passing of the Affordable Care Act, knowledge-based healthcare has become a federal mandate. Knowledge management processes vary depending on the nature of the healthcare organization, as well as local and state legislative contingencies. There is no formal auditing process for knowledge management systems analysis, but each healthcare institution is responsible for its own knowledge management and for the delivery of knowledge-based healthcare. The organizations that are primarily responsible for ensuring knowledge-based healthcare delivery are also specific to their areas of expertise. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Public Health Service oversee knowledge-based healthcare service delivery related to infectious diseases and other public health concerns, whereas Medicare covers knowledge-based healthcare services for the senior population nationwide (Institute of Medicine Committee on Assuring the Health of the Public in the 21st Century, 2005). Professional organizations like the American Medical Association and the American Dental Association are also dedicated to the provision of knowledge-based healthcare services under their practice rubrics.
Each organization that mandates knowledge-based healthcare delivery influences healthcare, mainly by changing the nature of service and the relationship between stakeholders. For example, local, state, and federal organizations have used knowledge-based healthcare models to shift towards a patient-centered system, a “customer-company relationship,” and team-based healthcare delivery (p. 111). Knowledge-based healthcare is also directly dependent on information technology, which has radically changed the way the system works. Information sharing facilitates a team-based approach to healthcare, allowing specialists and generalists both to provide the requisite level of care at every stage, for every patient. With the increasingly sophisticated information systems available to healthcare organizations, service delivery has also become more streamlined, aligned with the ethical objectives of healthcare, and integrated with other elements of healthcare delivery such as pricing and cost management. The management of knowledge-based healthcare delivery has also introduced value based purchasing models to the system, changing the relationship between insurers, providers, and clients.
Healthcare organizations at the state and federal level also work more closely with research institutions and universities to create and maintain knowledge databases. The implementation of evidence-based practice standards requires on robust relationships between the research and academic communities, the profit-driven private sector’s own research and development initiatives, and healthcare providers. Knowledge based healthcare creates “communities of practice” that have revolutionized service delivery nationwide (Bordoloi & Islam, 2012, p. 112). With the mandate for knowledge-based healthcare, organizations are better equipped to manage their resources effectively and to provide much-needed services to remote and underserved communities in rural areas, or to underserved populations like the poor and uninsured.
Professional organizations keep tabs on the quality of service through the processes of licensing and credentialing, ensuring that core competencies are consistently met and maintained. Public health organizations conduct ongoing research on epidemiology, to track disease proliferation, geographic dispersal, and responses to interventions. Private sector organizations that use clinical decision support systems and other information systems also drive knowledge-based healthcare into the future to provide more cost-effective and evidence-based services to clients. Ultimately, each healthcare practitioner and its administration is ethically obliged to fulfill the principles and goals of knowledge-based service delivery.




References

Bordoloi, P. & Islam, N. (2012). Knowledge management practices and healthcare delivery. The Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management 10(2): 110-120.
Institute of Medicine Committee on Assuring the Health of the Public in the 21st Century (2005). The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US): Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK221227/