PAM 5641

Health Care Quality Improvement

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2019-2020.

There is increasing interest in measuring patient outcomes and the quality of medical care, measuring physician and hospital performance at delivering medical care, and in improving the quality of medical care. This course provides students with an overview of: (i) how the quality of medical care is defined and measured; (ii) common policies for improving health care quality; (iii) common management strategies for improving health care quality; and, (iv) the role of information technology in measuring and improving health care quality. The course will examine policies and strategies including: operational targets (e.g., waiting time targets), pay-for-performance policies (e.g., readmission reduction program), information-based policies (e.g., provider report cards), reducing variation in clinical practice, checklists, patient satisfaction surveys, lean and six sigma techniques, and reducing hospital-acquired infections. In each case we will consider the design of the policies/strategies, the economic incentives they create (in the case of policies), and evidence on the effectiveness of each policy or strategy. The course will be taught through a combination of lectures, guest speakers, cases, and a two-day intensive 'health IT trek'.

When Offered Fall.

Permission Note Enrollment limited to: Sloan students or permission of instructor.
Prerequisites/Corequisites Prerequisite: PAM 2350 or equivalent, and PAM 5690 or PAM 3100.

• Become familiar with fundamental concepts of how to define, measure and evaluate the quality of medical care.
• Gained an understanding of the role of policies, management strategies, and health IT in facilitating Quality Improvement (QI).
• Developed a general understanding of organizational issues involved in performing QI and common barriers to the effective deployment of policy, management strategies and health IT.
• Improve your skills in problem solving, succinct verbal and written communication, and working with others in diverse groups.
• Gained knowledge about organizational behaviors and their impact on QI effectiveness.

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