JHH: Quality Healthcare for Over 130 Years - Essay Sample

Introduction

The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is a non-profit and one of the leading healthcare organizations in the US aimed at providing quality healthcare services in the form of treatment and prevention of human diseases. Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, JHH was established in 1889 and was recognized as the best overall hospital in the US for 21 years consecutively, between 1991 and 2011 (Newhouse et al., 2017). Since its establishment, JHH has been focusing on a specific target audience, including the elderly and patients at high-risks, including the ones with terminal diseases. With its high rank in America, the role that Johns Hopkins Hospital plays in the provision of healthcare has since grown to encompass a more extensive array of services through a network of several hospitals in Maryland. Among these significant roles include providing healthcare to the Maryland region and beyond, educating physicians as well as other healthcare professionals, and, more importantly, providing a leading center for clinical research and innovation against any human illnesses. As an organization, there is an assumption that apart from providing quality healthcare to patients in the US, JHH will also contribute to the economic vitality of the region in various ways, as an employer, a buyer of goods and services in the market and a significant generator of tax revenues.

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Strategic Initiative Analysis as Related to the Three-Legged Stool of Health Care

Access to Health Care

As part of the strategies to ensure adequate access to healthcare, Johns Hopkins Hospital has established four different hospitals in Maryland, along with several other subsidiaries of the institution. Moreover, JHH has also endeavored to serve the residents of the Columbia District and Florida by introducing hospitals and outpatient facilities in D.C as well as West Central Florida (Pronovost et al., 2013). The hospital considers that people will get more access to healthcare with an increased number of centers that provide inpatient and outpatient treatments. As a result, the organization also has plans to expand its geographical areas. Besides, as a strategic measure to improve access to healthcare, the organization also offers and plans to increase the primary, specialty care as well as home care services.

Quality Services

Johns Hopkins Hospitals works diligently to improve its performance and further improve the quality of services while delivering healthcare services to society. Among the most significant initiatives to ensure quality delivery of services by the hospital includes the adaptation of the AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs), towards bolstering the provision of quality care services to patients (Newhouse et al., 2017). The hospital further uses the AHRQ PSIs as a measure to align its quality improvement goals as well as communicate their resolution towards accountability and achieve executive leadership. It also has plans to introduce the patient navigator services, which will exist to assist patients in connecting to social services resources in society. Furthermore, to improve the efficiency and quality of emergency, inpatient as well as outpatient services, JHH will introduce implementation and monitoring of clinical best practices to care for the populations with extremely high risks (Pronovost et al., 2013).

Cost-Effectiveness

To ensure cost-effectiveness towards service delivery to patients, John Hopkins Hospital emphasizes on the hospital at home programs. According to Pronovost et al. (2013), this initiative will enable patients to receive adequate care at their homes, aimed at reducing complications and, most importantly cut the related costs.

Barriers to Access, Quality Services, and Cost-Effectiveness

On most of the hospital units, there is a limitation of access to care due to the lack of adequate nurses required to meet the needs of an individual patient. Moreover, systemic failure to plan for patient increases is also a huge barrier towards the delivery of health access because it results in conditions that tend to leave patients vulnerable to ineffective care (Pronovost et al., 2013). This failure also increases the hospital's expenditure hence hindering the delivery of services at cost-effective prices. Other facilities of the hospital also operate in poor working conditions, for instance, lack of break reliefs, thereby causing the healthcare providers with fatigue, stress, and burnout, hence hindering quality services delivery.

Impact of Barriers on Strategic Initiatives

The identified barriers affect the strategic initiatives negatively and prevent the hospital from offering accessible, quality, affordable services by the hospital to the public. More importantly, the identified barriers distort formulating the necessary strategic initiatives hence preventing patients from accessing the best care from the hospital (Newhouse et al., 2017).

Conclusion

Johns Hopkins Hospital is among the leading healthcare providing organizations in the US, established in 1889. The hospital mainly targets the elderly and the patients at high risks as its audience, in Maryland, among other neighboring regions. JHH has a significant role in the provision of healthcare on the broader aspect, including the provision of healthcare, educating physicians, and providing a base for clinical research and innovation. Furthermore, JHH enhances community wellness and, more importantly, balances the three-legged stool of health care, which involves access to services, quality care, and cost-effectiveness. However, as identified in the essay, the organization faces various barriers in its effort to deliver quality and affordable healthcare to the public. They include systematic failure to plan for an increased number of patients, poor working conditions, and inadequacy of nurses in most of its hospital centers.

References

Newhouse, R. P., Dearholt, S., Poe, S., Pugh, L. C., & White, K. M. (2017). Organizational change strategies for evidence-based practice. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 37(12), 552-557.

Pronovost, P. J., Demski, R., Callender, T., Winner, L., Miller, M. R., Austin, J. M., ... & Atha, W. (2013). Demonstrating high reliability on accountability measures at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 39(12), 531-AP5.