Case Study--Process and Structure for Quality and Cost Improvement (Quality) (Case Study‪)‬

The rational imperative for health care organizations to decrease health care costs and improve quality continues unabated across the country. Even as the health care reform debate evolves, hospitals are rapidly preparing for anticipated changes in reimbursement and new requirements for quality and safety. As part of this preparation, and fueled in part by independent rating organizations such as HealthGrades (which reports on hospital quality using a set of nearly 30 high-volume surgical procedures and medical conditions), the improvement focus on high-volume and high-cost patient conditions and procedures continues to gain momentum.