Research Paper on:
Critical Thinking Case Study: Revamping Quality Assurance and Clinical Pathways to Improve Cost Effectiveness

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
The Outcome Desired To cost effectively live up to the mission statement which is in place at Faith Community Hospital. This  statement, in part, reads: "...to promote the health and well-being of the people in the  communities we serve through a comprehensive continuum of services..." The Problem to Be Solved  The problem at Faith Community Hospital is the fact that operating costs must be reduced if the hospital is to even break even in  meeting this mission statement. Indeed, the hospitals own insurance costs have increased from $217 per patient per day to $240 per day in just one year (Student-Provided Material, 2002).  The question thus presents itself as to whether the efficiency of the operation has decreased and whether that decrease is responsible for increased costs. The next obvious question  is whether or not costs can be reduced without a corresponding decline in quality of care. These questions cannot be answered, however, without first obtaining better control of interorganizational  practices. Indeed, the situation at present is not only chaotic but sometimes counterproductive in terms of optimizing patient care.  The Current Situation Given that twenty-eight percent of the costs which are incurred at Faith Community Hospital are  fixed and do not vary in accordance with factors like the fluctuating patient population (in the last year that population has decreased by seven percent while fixed costs remained unaffected)