Risk Management in the Health Care Sector

Introduction:

The various services being offered by the health care sector basically revolve around one of the most important basic questions which is related to providing how quality treatment which is safe in nature to the maximum number of patients in the most effective way. A number of theories have been put forward from time to time in order to address the issues of health care services and these conventional theories have been greatly used by the managers in order to understand and design relevant strategies pertaining to risk management in the health sectors.

According to Hughes et al., 2010, the risk management pertaining to patient safety also highly relies on aviations and rail. A number of comprehensive approaches have been in use which has been greatly employed in situations pertaining to quality movements and effective management as well as the recent introduction of thinking factors like Six Sigma and Lean Thinking respectively (Talib et al., 2011, Foss et al., 2011, Cima et al., 2011).

The basic level revolves around management or implementation of a large amount of this activity which comprises of taking risk to undergo change for the overall improvement of clinical and non clinical practices. (Braithwaite, 2006a, Braithwaite et al., 2009, Braithwaite, 2006b).

Various developmental practices which strive to increase the effect of health care units by the utilisation of care related practices which can be effectively transformed to include in a culture of organisation broadly or team specifically (Garbett and McCormack, 2002).

The principles of risk management can successfully be utilised to both clinical and non clinical areas pertaining to primary health care services as the basic potential risk does exist in every level and at various spheres. The management of risks is mainly involved with the identification of risks which might directly affect the various objectives which still remain to be achieved. A large number of risks are generally related to various strategies and governance related issues, many of them are concerned with the business operations of the organisation.

Background:

For all the funded organisations one of the important components of optimum corporate governance revolves around risk and its effective management. A health care organisation like HDS can have a variety of plans and profiles for constructing the framework for risk management. These may include plans and policies pertaining to risk management, formation of profiles and registers of risk management, a system which could effectively report case incidences, various templates, and tools and training materials for effective risk management, continuity of business and managemental plans to deal with emergency. This kind of framework which is highly successful in other health care institutes can also be applied to the existing structure of HDS to develop effective risk management culture which includes the wide possible areas of concern for HDS in the present scenario like clinical and other operational activities thereby reducing the losses related to claims and achievement of the best and optimum practices related to quality day care services which exists within the gigantic framework of corporate governance.

The plans pertaining to risk management specifically identify the approach and components of management as well as resource allocation which are to be applied for the management of risk which includes vital concepts methods and various approaches. The plans also include the interaction and integration of various relationships and practices of management which exist within the current process which include criteria for risk assessment, consequences of risk and application of various steps of risk management including description of the processes through which appropriate risk management processes could be successfully applied within HDS based on levels of organisation as well as localities. Additionally, it also includes the application of risk management processes operational at within business units, programs projects as well as services and corresponding projects.

The plan for risk management pertaining to HDS also include a description of the context pertaining to internal and external scenarios as well as arrangement of corporate governance and supervision along with the organisation as in the present context, HDS, where these operate. The entire content for risk reporting should definitely include the content, format, details and in depth analysis, frequency of occurrence coupled with the risk reports of recipients.

Concept of Risk Register:

A minimally funded organisation like HDS where profit margins have decreased over the course of time due to technological advancements and they cannot cater to the needs of the patient numbers which follow thereby suffering loss need to maintain a register for risk documentation where there should be thorough written documentation of the various areas pertaining to risk which have been identified (Alamaden et al., 2011)These information which could be documented may include the process of eventuation of risk in terms of how’s and why’s. The existing controls which are available. The risk of likelihood as well as the consequences therein associated with the same. The various available criteria which were pre existing in nature and have been established before in order to assess the risk of acceptation and the basis for further treatment (Alamadein et al., 2011). Prioritisation of risk is also a very important parameter. To be accountable and to deliver the work within the fixed time frame is important.

Concepts of risk management, Reduction, control as a tool in risk management frame work of HDS:

While considering HDS, increased risk features on the things like infections which could arise due to numerous issues, failure to communicate coupled with the high occupancy number, which may lead to wrong identification. The potential risk could be considered as a threat indicator or could be potentially vulnerable to the impact of the uncertainties which surround the risk. The livelihood of risk could always be associated with loss which could be varied over a range of expected loss. The financial risk pertaining to any organisation is highly dependent upon vulnerability and volatility where returns could either is better than expected or worse than expected. As per statistics, the risk could be mapped to undesirable effects which could be vulnerable and can arise at various stages of growth and stability of an organisation. However, the desired objective of risk includes the appropriate management in such a way that there are no surprises stored. All the objectives could be achieved in a simplified and recorded manner.

The various steps of risk management include establishment of context along with identification and assessment of risk. The treatment or control of risk includes mitigation of risk, elimination, acceptance and or transfer of insurance.

Strategies to reduce financial burden and optimize risk management:

HDS can go a long way by the implementation of provisions within affordable care where vast expansion coverage, stress on protection has tremendous improvement with respect to the quality of health care in this day care facility thereby working on the outcome from patients so as to ensure and increase the safety and security of patients during their stay in the day care facility. The exchanges which actually refer to the health care market place also have a wide range of insurance policies with different budgets whereby consumers find the best one suited as per their need. All these insurance plans have a common core benefit along with the increase in protection which governs them against paying out of pocket expenses. Thus the consumers have the inherent option of comparing the benefits of the various insurance plans available with those of other companies and then finally deciding on the best plan applicable to them as per their needs.

One of the strategies which could successfully protect the day care centre and also ensure patient safety without bringing serious budgetary changes in the financial circle of the day care facility includes engagement of different people as well as family members who could be bought in as partners in the day care facility by HDS thereby increasing the preferences of caregivers ofr the patient by using simple clear cut strategies for communication which would definitely improve the care receiving experience of patients who are there in the day care facility for the number of hours also improving and improvising the overall experience of all the stake holders who are directly or indirectly involved like families, caregivers etc coupled with the integration of all the principles pertaining to health and literacy and promotion of safety of patients. It is imperative to identify various innovative solutions which would minimize harm applicable commonly to almost all settings through the engagement of local providers including patients and families as well as to conduct periodic meetings with the stakeholders at multiple levels so as to identify the various levels of risks and plan and choke out program to mitigate the same from the day care facility. There is an increasing need to implement various types of networks stressing on learning and action so as to promote the best practices pertaining to quality assessment and implementation in day care facility along with adherence to policies which would ensure patient safety and security, prevent communicable and infectious disease spread from day care units as well as increasing and boosting the knowledge on health and well being together with ensuring better transitional care.

Another strategy could include the integration and interlinking of support for clinical decision with quality measurement so that the help providers could successfully implement both optimised health care safety as well as quality. There should be in detailed collection of data in order to identify relevant important issues where inappropriate care which has harmed the patient has been closely documented so that these mistakes are not repeated and appropriate action be taken to address these issues immediately. The surveillance parameters must be increased and improvised in non hospital day care settings like HDS so that the different sources and points where control and intervention is required to minimize risks pertaining to infectious diseases, threats from antimicrobial agents as well as other identified diseases from time to time.

Conclusion:

Health care units, especially day care units have an increased risk when it comes to patient safety and it is imperative to identify potential areas where risk poses are high and appropriate strategies to mitigate risk. In the present scenario of HDS, the major reason for which the business is falling apart includes competition and improvisation of technological gadgets and machines being used by others. Small unique changes made in the daily routine along with increased communication skills amongst all levels and stakeholders would definitely go a long way in minimising risk. This will ensure that the financial budget is not expanded largely and also all the needs are met.

References:

1. Almaden, S., Freshman, B. & Quaye, B. 2011. Case management redesign in an Urban facility. Professional Case Management, 16, 199-209.
2. Braithwaite, J., Runciman, W. B. & Merry, A. F. 2009. Towards safer, better healthcare: harnessing the natural properties of complex sociotechnical systems. Qual Saf Health Care, 18, 37-41.
3. Caccia-Bava, M. D. C., Guimaraes, V. C. K. & Guimaraes, T. 2009. Testing some major determinants for hospital innovation success. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 22 (5), 454-470.
4. Carr, D., Howells, A., Chang, M., Hirji, N. & English, A. 2009. An integrated approach to stakeholder engagement. Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.), 12 Spec No Ontario, 62-70.
5. Chreim, S., Williams, B. E., Janz, L. & Dastmalchian, A. 2010. Change agency in a primary health care context: the case of distributed leadership. Health Care Management Review, 35, 187-199.
6. Christensen, M. 2009. Advancing practice in critical care: a model of knowledge integration. Nursing in Critical Care, 14, 86-94
7. Amori G, Hendel T, Popp P. 2007 The changing role of the risk manager in a patient safety culture. Remarks at: Annual conference and exhibition of the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management; Oct 10-13; Chicago (IL).
8. Bokar V, Matthews J. 2007 Remarks at: Partnering for Safety and Quality [Webcast]; Jun 20; Chicago (IL). Conducted by: American Society for Healthcare Risk Management
9. http://www.hhs.gov/strategic-plan/goal1.html
10. http://www.slideshare.net/NadeemBaig/risk-management-in-healthcare-4750692