The Insurance Impact on Healthcare

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Healthcare Delivery and Quality

Medical errors constitute a grave public health issue and a leading cause of mortality in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 50% of the healthcare acquired infections (HAIs) patients die annually (Murphy, Tchetchik & Furxhi, 2020). Nevertheless, HAIs resulting from pneumonia and catheter cost more than $5.5 billion a year (Murphy, Tchetchik & Furxhi, 2020). Even though it is a challenge to unravel a reliable cause of errors, it is also impossible to craft a viable solution that would minimize the likelihood of a recurrent event. Improving patient safety starts with recognizing clinical issues, learning from them and working towards precluding them. Moreover, part of the solution lies in maintaining a culture where safety challenges are recognized while viable solutions implemented as opposed to a culture of blame and retribution. In a bid to enhance patient safety and control healthcare costs, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) prohibited making payments to healthcare systems for preventable errors and never events in 2008 (Murphy, Tchetchik & Furxhi, 2020). The paper evaluates the aspect of patient safety initiatives and health incentives in the purview of insurance and payments.