Quality Isn’t Just a Checkbox — Can Better Workforce Skills Drive Lower Costs?

The healthcare industry is facing several simultaneous pressures — including ongoing workforce shortages, rising costs, aging populations and changing patient preferences.

Another one of healthcare’s root problems is that care quality doesn’t seem to be getting any better at scale, despite advancements in technology and reach. Provider organizations tend to view quality and safety as boxes to check or expenses to manage, rather than as strategies that can drive better performance, pointed out Stephanie Mercado, CEO of the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) , during an interview last month at Reuters’ Total Health conference in Chicago.

In her view, most providers’ quality infrastructure is underdeveloped and retrospective. She thinks they tend to focus more on complianc