LEGAL ASPECTS OF U.S. HEALTH CARE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION

With the constant evolution of healthcare, it is important to know what professional conduct is and how it will affect We Care Hospital. As a top healthcare administrator, it is important to make sure that the patients know and understand their rights, as well as aiming to adhere to all protocols and procedures to ensure proper care is met. With patients being the most important individuals, ensuring patient satisfaction has become the number one focal point of many hospitals. Overall, it is patient satisfaction that is the key to maintaining a patient quality of care.

 Improving Outcomes

Professionalism in health care is very important because it involves the relationship between the caregiver, patient, and patient’s family.  Patients expect healthcare professionals to handle their needs professionally. The relationship established between the medical professional and patient is fundamental in providing success to the overall care of the patient.

Give the nature of procedures and the medical conditions of individual patients; patient safety is one that is of general concern.  It is important to educate those about safety concerns in a medical setting and to develop various strategies that can meet the continued growth of complex procedures.

Policies and Case Laws

Medical error is something that is common in the medical field but is something that should be handled by certain procedures and policies, which are in place for whenever they do occur. In a healthcare setting, it is the organization who is liable for the negligent acts of its employees, even though there has been no wrongful conduct on the part of the organization (Pozgar, 2019).

Policies and procedures for any hospital or medical facility help hold employees accountable for their actions when caring for patients. They standardize certain practices to ensure that every patient receives the same level of care as provided by the medical staff, doctor, or nurses.

When it comes to the ramifications when the health care team “fails to rescue” a patient, I believe the hospital should implement an electronic log to track and verify crash carts to make sure they are properly evaluated in case of a code blue emergency. Failure to rescue is said to account for 60,000 deaths each year in Medicare patients under the age of 75 (Kremsdorf,2018).

 Elements of Medical Negligence

“Negligence is defined as compensation for personal injury and relies upon proving fault (Pagura,2015).” The basic rule for proving negligence is making sure that all four elements of medical negligence are present. The four elements are duty of care, breach of duty of care, injury, and causation.

First, one must prove that there was a duty of care between the patient and the practicing physician.  The health care provider owed a duty of care to the patient as part of a professional medical relationship that was established at the start of care and must have existed at the time the negligence occurred to establish a case.  So, to prove a duty of care existed, the patient would have to show two things: a relationship and did they fail to provide care.

Breach of duty is the action taken or the failure to act when there was a duty of care. Proving breach of duty in medical negligence cases generally involve establishing the standard of care a “reasonable” person with similar qualifications would provide to a patient under similar circumstances (Pagura,2015).

Did the health care provider breach of duty cause the patient’s injury? This is what is known as causation.  This is the four element that must be proven and show that the patient injuries were suffered as a result of the health care provider’s negligence.  We know at the end that just because the patient had a complication or did not recover as well as hoped does not mean that the health care provider was negligent or that negligence caused the patient’s injuries, that is why all four elements but be present and proven to be able to establish a successful case.

The Duties of The Health Care Governing Board

Improving the knowledge and effectiveness of the health care organization help to achieve the goal of continuously improving the U.S. health care system (Callender,2013). The governing board key role is to help establish strategic goals that are targeted toward quality improvement and patient safety.  Their duties include ensuring patient safety and quality of care, to creating and standardizing policies, and ensuring regulatory compliance, it is the governing board who guarantees that We Care Hospital is performing at its optimal level.

Healthcare governing boards have a responsibility in promoting quality of care and preserving patient safety to maintain the reputation of the health care organization (Callender,2013).  They are expected to make inquiries to management so they can retrieve the information necessary to satisfy their duty of care.

The Governing boards of health care organizations are called in response to new developments and new policy protocols and issues that could be associated with quality of care. Also, anything that may be critical to the operating of the organization.

Conclusion

As the top health care administrator of We Care Hospital my main goal is to improve the quality of care and making sure the hospital maintains in compliance with the protocols and procedures set aside to follow. Given the constant changes in healthcare and innovation of new technology, one must make sure that all patient outcomes are met with fewer medical errors and fewer deaths that can be preventable. It is of extreme importance that one maintains overall professionalism and avoid any forms of negligence and to always remain in compliance with the rules of practice that are established for the facility.  

References

  • Callender , A. N., Hastings, D. A., Hemsley, M. C., Morris, L., & Peregrine, M. (2013). Corporate Responsibility and Health Care Quality: A Resource for Health Care Boards of Directors
  • Kremsdorf, R. (2018, September 14). Tackling the Underlying Problems of Failure to Rescue.
  • Pagura, I. (2015). Negligence: What you need to know. Journal of the Australian Traditional-Medicine Society
  • Pozgar, G. D. & Santucci, N. (2019). Legal aspects of health care administration. (13th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
  • Walshe, K., & Shortell, S. M. (2004). When Things Go Wrong: How Health Care Organizations Deal With Major Failures. Health Affairs