Assignment 1: Discussion Assignment

The discussion assignment provides a forum for discussing relevant topics for this week based on the course competencies covered.

For this assignment, make sure you post your initial response to the Discussion Area by Saturday, December 5, 2015.

To support your work, use your course and text readings and also use outside sources. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible. Respond to at least two of your classmates. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Complete your participation for this assignment.

Quality in Healthcare at the National Level

Quality is a serious initiative in healthcare at the national level. Hospitals, providers, insurance companies, and government-sponsored agencies are now faced with meeting quality initiatives. Compliance with these initiatives means more revenue and better patient quality and provider care.

Select any area in your city, community, county, or region, and assume the patient in this week’s case study is in this area. Using the South University Online Library or the Internet, research and answer the following:

• Does your community have the required medical resources to handle the patient’s problem?
• How would the patient’s care be handled in your community? Identify the nearest hospital to the area you have chosen that treats the problem. Trace the patient’s course to this hospital.
• List the healthcare professionals and facilities that would be encountered on the way.
• Compare any two insurance plans and choose the one that would offer the most to the patient.
• Discuss the essential quality-of-care issues involved in this case. What is the role of Telemedicine in your community and how do you access it? How does it affect the quality of care?