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Biomedical subjects

Margaret E O'Kane

Publications and source records attributed to Margaret E O'Kane.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

How am I doing?

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Quality Assurance, Health Care↗
PubMed2006

Redefining value in health care: a new imperative.

Higher spending does not buy higher quality care, but it often buys unnecessary care. Some remedies include: Eliminate unnecessary care. Provide consumers with reliable and accessible information about quality. Find new healthcare system financial incentives, such as pay for performance.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMed2005

The role of accreditation in an era of market-driven accountability.

Accreditation has been widely used to promote accountability in healthcare. However, with the rise of both purchaser and consumer demand for broader and more detailed information on performance beyond licensure and professional self-regulation, especially at the provider level, the role of accreditation is less clear. We hypothesize that for accreditation to be a critical part of a market-driven, consumer-focused healthcare system, accrediting bodies must enlarge their scope of assessment with an emphasis on clinical performance of providers, revise and expand their level of reporting and transparency of assessment, and broaden the base of their governance. A new approach to accreditation could enhance accountability by (1) building on an existing framework and data-collection structure that are proven elements of quality assurance in multiple healthcare sectors; (2) expanding existing involvement of both public and private entities in the process; (3) building on existing linkages to professional and regulatory bodies; (4) providing greater flexibility, compared with regulation, in responding to change; and (5) having a defined source of funding. By these means, accrediting bodies will both improve accountability and successfully drive quality improvement.

Accreditation↗
PubMed2004

Malpractice prevention, patient safety, and quality of care: a critical linkage.

There is growing evidence of a negative effect of the current American preoccupation with malpractice on efforts to reduce error, enhance safety, and improve other domains of quality. The use by some insurers of systems assessment and risk analysis programs, linked to rewards for performance--which, taken together, we term proactive risk management--offers an opportunity to enhance our focus on systems and to bring patient safety and malpractice risk reduction into close congruence with other quality improvement efforts. Given the increasing burden of malpractice, as well as the emerging concerns about patient safety, managed care organizations and their providers need to work together with malpractice insurers and quality improvement experts to refocus their efforts on creating systems improvement; driving measurement, analysis, and feedback; and developing incentives for performance that will align quality and risk management efforts and drive breakthroughs in quality, including patient safety.

Forecasting↗
PubMed2002

A strong dose of information: health plans as "infomediaries".

Information therapy, the theme of this issue, is fitting and timely because all of us who are dedicated to, or interested in, improving healthcare quality know that a good strong dose of information is what the healthcare system needs right about now. In an increasingly consumer-driven world, patients, of course, need to know more about how to best contribute to their own care; they need to know which providers are doing the right things consistently, and which health plans deliver the highest caliber of service. They need this information not only to help them self-manage chronic illnesses, but also to help them make educated choices about providers and plans.

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Professionalism, regulation, and the market: impact on accountability for quality of care.

This paper examines the interplay of professionalism, regulation, and the market in shaping accountability on the part of hospitals, physicians, and health plans. We pay particular attention to the role of accreditation. We review the development of accountability and examine its recent evolution in the context of changing information technology, consumer demands, the decline of the staff- and group-model HMO, and the reemergence of health care cost inflation. The market is emerging as the dominant influence on accountability; this development will require changes in the roles and structure of regulation, professionalism, and accreditation in assuring accountability.

Accreditation↗