Quality Monitoring and Reporting

Quality Monitoring and Reporting
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When trying to determine the best hospital or pharmacy or medical plan, there are many things to consider in order to choose the best one for your needs. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is working on a method of standardized combined care. Quality Monitoring and Reporting is one of the methods the FDA is using to create data bases that will provide medical personnel, pharmacies and patients with enough coordinated information to make the selection of care providers easier. By setting and maintaining standards of medical treatment from every angle, every patient should be able to get the care they need without any guesswork.

The Importance of Quality Monitoring

Medical costs are skyrocketing, due in part to a lack of quality control and specific standards for treatments. Malpractice insurance is another reason for the escalating prices. Careful monitoring of medical practitioners insures the quality of their services and allows for the removal of “bad” doctors from the Medi-Care provider list. Any mistakes in diagnosis, treatment or prescriptions by a doctor would be reported to the Quality monitoring data base and make it possible for potential patients to know in advance if their doctor has a history of making mistakes.

The Importance of Reporting

Pharmacists, doctors and patients can report to the data base when they see problems and the data base coordinates the information, making it readily accessible. In the information age, computer technology is one of the most important methods of improving the care and treatment of patients. Medi-Care patients in particular will benefit from Quality Monitoring and Reporting. But other health insurers will also be able to use the data base to determine which physicians and pharmacies their policy holders should and should not use. Knowing that their practices will be under careful observation should make more doctors and druggists even more careful to insure the safety of the patients who come to them for their services.

Overview

“This initiative will tremendously increase the FDA’s capacity to monitor the use of medical products on the market. We are moving from reactive dependence on voluntary reporting of safety concerns – to proactive surveillance of medical products on the market. In addition, Medicare data on prescription drug use will be available to help government agencies and academic researchers improve the safety, quality and efficiency of health care services,” said Health and Human Services Director, Mike Leavitt.

Resource:

https://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2008pres/05/20080522a.html