Rate-Based Quality Indicators

Rate-Based Quality Indicators
Student Name
Institution Affiliation
Rate-based Indicators
Health care professionals worldwide play vital roles, particularly because people’s lives are at stake. As such, they are mandated and obligated to provide and offer the best possible care and treatment without any forms of favoritism or discrimination. On the same breadth, health care facilities are supposed to ensure they employ qualified and skilled individuals and who will assist significantly to improve patient outcomes. It is based on the above facts that over the recent past, there have been considerable growing interests not only from researchers and policymakers but also the general public concerning the measurement of quality care, otherwise known as quality indicators in the medical sector. These parties are continuously seeking systematic modes of measuring and benchmarking the quality of care provided by different health care providers and facilities. Countries such as Australia, Italy, and Belgium have made it mandatory for the reporting of quality of care in the overall health performance reports. This growing interest in quality measurement and indicators is being fostered by rapid developments in both information technology and measurement methodologies. Quality indicators in health care are identified as quantitative measures that offer feedback on not just the effectiveness and safety but also people-centeredness of care provided by medical personnel. They are usually employed as a summative mechanism to cater for external accountability and verification. They also serve as a formative mechanism for quality improvement. While there are various ways of classifying quality indicators, one notable and most common option that will also form the focus of the research paper is rate-based indicators.
Overview of Clinical Quality Indicators
Over the recent past, the provision of quality service has proven to be a key factor in many industries and sectors, including health care. From a medical perspective, clinical quality indicators are quantitative measures used as guides. They assist in the monitoring and evaluation of the quality of fundamental patient care and the support service activities offered to them while receiving treatment. Mainz (2003) reiterates the above point and shares “quality indicators are screens or flags that identify or direct attention to specific performance issues within a health care organization that should be subject of more intense review”. The growing interest in quality measures and indicators stems from the advanced developments in information technology and methods of measuring. It is through quality indicators that policymakers and medical associations can undoubtedly assure the provision of high-quality care in their respective regions. This is because quality indicators provide them reliable information that assists them in identifying good and bad health care providers, practices, and facilities. Clinical quality indicators also assist in the comparison and contrast of the effectiveness of different forms of treatment and procedures (Ahrq.gov, 2020). There are two general types of quality indicators in health care. The first type includes the Sentinel event indicat...