Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving treatment for other conditions within a healthcare setting. Reducing HAIs is a critical quality initiative that directly impacts an organization's reimbursement.
Many healthcare payers, including Medicare and Medicaid in the United States, have implemented policies that reduce or deny reimbursement for certain conditions deemed preventable, including specific HAIs. This approach incentivizes healthcare organizations to implement effective infection control practices to improve patient safety and avoid financial penalties.
While the other initiatives listed are important for overall healthcare quality, they do not have as direct an impact on reimbursement:
Decreasing lab result turn-around-time (Option A): Improving the speed of lab results enhances patient care efficiency but is not typically linked to reimbursement policies.
Improving medication barcode scanning compliance (Option B): Enhancing barcode scanning can reduce medication errors, contributing to patient safety, but it does not directly affect reimbursement.
Increasing five-year survival rate in cancer patients (Option C): While this reflects improved long-term patient outcomes, it is influenced by various factors and is not directly tied to reimbursement structures.
Therefore, reducing hospital-acquired infections is the quality initiative among the options provided that most directly impacts an organization's reimbursement.
