Hospital Quality Improvement Essay Example for Free

Hospital Quality Improvement Essay Kausch and as a member of the quality improvement council. Corporate influences to assist in the hospital efforts consisted of providing staffing for QIP. The mentor was provided by headquarters staff, and in the case of WFRMC was Dr. Batalden (p. 525). The corporate headquarters also rovided a means for WFRMC to work with one of the other HCA hospitals to focus and develop self-assessment tools for department heads (McLaughlin Kaluzny, The impact of the programs that would be instilled in WFRMC can be 2006). measured through departmental quality improvement assessments. The scoring matrix of the self-assessment focused on approach, deployment (implementation), and effects ((McLaughlin Kaluzny, 2006). The approach includes the eight dimensions: leadership constancy, employee mindedness, customer mindedness, process focused, statistical thinking, PDCA driven, innovativeness, and regulatory proactiveness (p. 30). The implementation assessment was focused around the depth of deployment; the awareness, knowledge, understanding, and application of the plan (McLaughlin Kaluzny, 2006). The effects were assessed on the overall quality of measureable results. For example, CQI team for charting showed favorable results form quality improvement plans in that patient report availability was improved, and there were fewer phone calls [with regards to errors] (p. 537). Implementation programs. The obstetric department utilized a consultant to evaluate quality. The result of this was that it became clear that there was a demand for a system in hich a family-centered birth experience could occur (p. 541). This development ofa new family-centered system was based on the need to center its services on the customer preferences rather then a forced routine (McLaughlin Kaluzny, 2006). In order to implement a new system Ms. Cynthia Ayres, an administrative director, was assigned to implement this new concept. The result was that Ms. Ayres decided to use the CQI process to develop a new charge process and to evaluate the cost and resource consumption of the service (p. 541). In the evaluation all processes of a delivery were under analysis. Another tactical program that was supported with TQM was that of pharmacy. This was conducted as a result of the concern of the rapidly rising costs of inpatient drugs, especially antibiotics, which were costing the hospital about $1. 3 million per year (p. 543). A CQI team was formed and evaluated the process of how physicians selected antibiotics for treatment (McLaughlin Kaluzny, 2006). The end result of the CQI process was the recommendation that antibiotics be listed in order of increasing cost per average daily dose (McLaughlin Kaluzny, 2006)

Social Security Essays -- essays research papers

Title of Paper : Social Security Social security, created in 1935, is the most costly item in the federal budget. The program provides old age, survivors’ and disability insurance to a healthy portion of Americans. Workers and their employers fund the system by each paying payroll taxes. The Internal Revenue Service collects the taxes and deposits the money in government-administrated accounts known as the Old Age and Survivors and Disability Insurance Trust Funds(OASDI). The payroll tax revenues are used to pay benefits to those people currently collecting Social Security pensions. Social Security taxes also pay for Medicare, the national health program for the elderly. The huge problem with the current situation facing Social Security is the increasing deduction of workers in the work force paying for workers retired. â€Å"Due to the large number of aging baby boomers, American 65 and older are the fastest-growing segment of the population. The population growth of Americans age 65 and older is 112% in the years between 1995 and 2040. The population growth in age 20-64 is 24%. The population growth in ages under 20, is 5%.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What these numbers essentially represent is a cause problem with age differences in the future. Soon, less workers will be in the job force trying to supply more retirees with Social Security. Currently, many ideas have been juggled around trying to find a sound and reasonable way to resolve this problem. Granted, the problem will not happen overnight, but rather over a long arduous duration of time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The question first arises, â€Å"Can the existing system survive without major reforms?† The early designers of Social Security and many Democrats are baffled at the recent proposals to change Social Security. Most believe that Social Security is still able to provide a safety net for retirees and their survivors if minor adjustments are made. â€Å"Occasionally raising payroll taxes or recalculating the way benefits are paid out.† Some Democrats look at major reform as a way of pitting war between generations. They stand on common beliefs that Social Security has worked for over 60 years by providing a steady stream of monthly payments that beneficiaries can rely on. Also, it has helped lift millions of seniors out of poverty. Democrats also criticize the Grand Old Party for â€Å"playing†... ...vatization of personal savings would be advantageous to the nation’s economy, delivering bigger pensions to workers and helping the economy grow faster. Some believe the emphasis on personal savings would give the added feature of encouraging more individual responsibility at a time when the nation prepares for a surge in its elderly population. Privatization would differ from Social Security in two important ways. First, the amount a worker receives at retirement depends solely on how much one contributes to savings and how well the investments perform. In simplified notation, those who set aside more and invest wisely enjoy more comfortable retirements. Secondly, pensions are paid out of an individual’s accumulated savings instead of financed by taxes on active workers. For example, Chile for a little less than two decades has replaced it’s system which was much like Social Security with a system incorporated around the idea of privately invested accounts. The results are astounding. The plan is relatively elementary because it focuses on workers placing 10 percent of their monthly income into a savings account. With this, government leaders boosted the national savings rate Social Security Essays -- essays research papers Title of Paper : Social Security Social security, created in 1935, is the most costly item in the federal budget. The program provides old age, survivors’ and disability insurance to a healthy portion of Americans. Workers and their employers fund the system by each paying payroll taxes. The Internal Revenue Service collects the taxes and deposits the money in government-administrated accounts known as the Old Age and Survivors and Disability Insurance Trust Funds(OASDI). The payroll tax revenues are used to pay benefits to those people currently collecting Social Security pensions. Social Security taxes also pay for Medicare, the national health program for the elderly. The huge problem with the current situation facing Social Security is the increasing deduction of workers in the work force paying for workers retired. â€Å"Due to the large number of aging baby boomers, American 65 and older are the fastest-growing segment of the population. The population growth of Americans age 65 and older is 112% in the years between 1995 and 2040. The population growth in age 20-64 is 24%. The population growth in ages under 20, is 5%.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What these numbers essentially represent is a cause problem with age differences in the future. Soon, less workers will be in the job force trying to supply more retirees with Social Security. Currently, many ideas have been juggled around trying to find a sound and reasonable way to resolve this problem. Granted, the problem will not happen overnight, but rather over a long arduous duration of time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The question first arises, â€Å"Can the existing system survive without major reforms?† The early designers of Social Security and many Democrats are baffled at the recent proposals to change Social Security. Most believe that Social Security is still able to provide a safety net for retirees and their survivors if minor adjustments are made. â€Å"Occasionally raising payroll taxes or recalculating the way benefits are paid out.† Some Democrats look at major reform as a way of pitting war between generations. They stand on common beliefs that Social Security has worked for over 60 years by providing a steady stream of monthly payments that beneficiaries can rely on. Also, it has helped lift millions of seniors out of poverty. Democrats also criticize the Grand Old Party for â€Å"playing†... ...vatization of personal savings would be advantageous to the nation’s economy, delivering bigger pensions to workers and helping the economy grow faster. Some believe the emphasis on personal savings would give the added feature of encouraging more individual responsibility at a time when the nation prepares for a surge in its elderly population. Privatization would differ from Social Security in two important ways. First, the amount a worker receives at retirement depends solely on how much one contributes to savings and how well the investments perform. In simplified notation, those who set aside more and invest wisely enjoy more comfortable retirements. Secondly, pensions are paid out of an individual’s accumulated savings instead of financed by taxes on active workers. For example, Chile for a little less than two decades has replaced it’s system which was much like Social Security with a system incorporated around the idea of privately invested accounts. The results are astounding. The plan is relatively elementary because it focuses on workers placing 10 percent of their monthly income into a savings account. With this, government leaders boosted the national savings rate

The Market for Chocolate Cookies Is Comprised of Two Types

(a) As the question says the market for chocolate cookies is competitive thus, this complies with the market structure of Perfect Competition where there are a large number of buyers and sellers in the market. The basic characteristics of a Perfect Competition Market structure are that there is perfect knowledge on both sides of the market that is buyers and sellers know what the current market price is and thus, it prevents exploitation of the consumers as producers would not be able to charge unfair prices.This is because each firm produces an insignificant fraction of the total market supply and therefore is unable to affect price, it is for this reason that each firm in perfect competition is known as a price taker. There are no barriers to entry or exit in a perfectly competitive industry and thus, producers can enter or exit the market without any restrictions and thus, without any significant losses. The intersection of demand and supply curves of the industry determines the e quilibrium price a typical producer can charge which also become the demand of the firm.Due to this, the producers cannot exploit the consumers by charging a high price and thus, the price is always at the equilibrium. This is because if the producers charge a higher price, the demand for the product becomes zero, because the consumers can always switch to another producer as the good is homogenous. (Anderton, 2000) Since the Firms in Perfect Competition are Price takers so they both take the current market price, ‘Pe’ as shown in the Graph where the Market Demand and Supply intersects and form the Market equilibrium.D0 can be assumed as the Total Demand of Chocolate Cookies in the market and S0 can be assumed as the Total Supply of the Chocolate Cookies in the Market. Not for profit Organisations’ (NPOs) Average Cost (ATCn) is higher than the Average Cost of Profit Making Organisations, that is ATCp, because Not for profit organisations’ (NPOs) employ dis abled people and their cost is also high because Profit Making Organisation are making use of Capital Intensive technologies thus, more of their production is automated and they employ fewer workers than the NPOs.Average Cost of the Profit Making Firms (ATCp) is equal to the market Price (Pe) so they are making a â€Å"Normal Profit† just because of higher productivity due to which their cost is reduced. A firm makes a Normal Profit when its total Economic Cost, which is Average Cost in other words, is equal to the price firm is charging. In other words it can be said that the firm is making zero economic profit. A firm makes a supernormal profit when its Average Cost (economic cost) is lower than the price it is charging. The NPOs initially in the Short run are making a loss since their Average Cost (ATCn) is greater than the price (Pe) charged.A profit making firm may also make a supernormal profit but in the short run only, in the long run it can only make a normal profit or a zero economic profit. NPOs will be following a cost minimizing price, marginal cost price. (b)(i) A lump sum tax is a fixed amount that is charged as tax irrespective of a business’s profit, sales revenue or capital. According to Mankiw (2009), A lump sum tax is the most efficient tax possible because the business’s decisions do not alter the tax owed, the tax does not causes any dead weight losses and does not distort any incentives.Since, there is a fixed amount payable as tax so there is no administrative expense of hiring tax lawyers and accountants. Short run is the time period when at least one inputs in the production process is fixed and the rest are variable. Usually in the short run, the variable input is labour and the fixed input is capital. In the short run, it is assumed that producers can only alter production by changing the variable inputs rather than any fixed inputs. In the short run, existing firms do not exit the market.When the government imp oses a lump sum tax on the profit making corporations in a perfect competition, it disturbs the market structure of Perfect competition. It challenges the basic theory of Perfect Competition which says no barriers to entry and exit to and from the market. There is no government intervention usually in a perfectly competitive industry since it changes the basic characteristics of the Market Structure. However, after the government decides to impose a tax on the profit making firms only then the Market Structure of the Chocolate Cookies Industry does not remains a ure perfect competition, the Industry has close characteristics with Perfect Competition but cannot be categorised under it just because of the tax imposed. In the short run, the lump-sum tax must only affect the Average cost of the Profit Making firms while all other costs and revenue must be constant if all other factors affecting costs/revenue remain constant. Hence, as shown in the Graph above, The Average cost (ATCp0) o f a Profit making firm will increase depending on the amount of tax imposed by the government.In the graph above, the amount of tax has been assumed to be ATCp1-Pe which shows that the firm is making a loss after the ATCp0 shifts to ATCp1. If the market price is less than the Average Variable cost of the profit making firm, that is the firm is operating below its shut down point (Price = Average Variable Cost) then the firm will have to shut down production in the short run until there is a decrease in its average variable cost or an increase in the market price.But if in case, the market price is greater than Average variable cost but lesser than Average total Cost then the firm must continue production in the short run since it is covering its variable costs for now. (Mankiw, 2007) (ii) Long run is a time period when all the factors/inputs involved in the production process are variable. There are no fixed factors in the long run. In the long run firms can exit and enter the marke t freely.The long run is primarily used to analyze production decisions for a firm and is also used to better understand economies of scale, diseconomies of scale, and long-run market supply. In the long run, there must be a lot of changes in the industry and must also affect the firms in many ways. Like most of the Profit making firms which will be operating below the Shut down point (Price < Average Variable Cost) must not have been able to survive and must have exit the market.That must only shrink the market supply of Chocolate cookies, if all other factors affecting supply remain constant. The shrinking of supply will shift the Market Supply Curve (S0) to the left to the new Market Supply curve (S1) which must lead to an increase in the equilibrium market price of the industry to Pe1. The new market price will result in NPOs making a supernormal, normal profit or at least covering more of its loss in the short run but making a normal profit in the long run, depending on the num ber of exits from the market which should influence the change in market price.The graph below shows NPOs making a supernormal profit (Pe1-ATCn). It shows the Profit making firms also making a normal profit (Pe1 = ATCp1). Again, depending on the number of exits from the market and average costs of the firms, the profit of both the firms must vary. Since the NPOs now can make a Supernormal or at least a normal profit in the long run and will also get donations additionally so they must benefit their workers with all that extra profits earned.Their Disabled workers must earn much more than they were earning before in the short run and before the lump sum tax by the government was imposed. The NPOs may also employ additional workers after earning extra profits. The workers of the Profit making corporation might be worse off in the short run and some workers which will be working in the firms which had to shut down due to higher Average Variable cost than the market price will be fired while others in the long run will be better off comparatively.It will be unfair for the Profit making firms in a way that they produce better quality cookies as compare to NPOs but still NPOs are better off than the Profit Making Organisations in the long run. The consumers of the industry will be worse off in the long run, since they will have to pay a higher price just due to the lump sum tax imposed by the Government to make the NPOs better off in the long run.The tax burden of the Profit making organisations will be totally passed on to the consumers in the long run since they will have to pay the whole tax burden on the producers in the form of price. Word Count: 1531 words without referencing References: Heyne, P. , P. J. Boettke and D. L. Prychitko (2009). Economic Way of Thinking (9th Edition). Mankiw, N. G. (2009). Principles of Economics (5th Edition). Parkin, M. (2007). Economics (8th Edition).

How to Offer Things in English as a Second Language

Offering things in English is essential whenever you want to be polite, have guests at your home, or even organize a work event. The phrases below cover both how to offer various items to your guests, as well as how to accept offers graciously. Learn to use these phrases so that you can offer and accept things graciously and in a socially appropriate manner. Offering Phrases Its common to use phrases such as would you like and modal forms such as Can I or May I  to offer something. Here are some of the most important phrases used to offer something: Can I get you some...?Would you like some...?May I offer you some...?Would you like me to get you some...? Some mini-dialogues containing these asking phrases might be: Bob: Can I get you something to drink?Mary: Yes, that would be nice. Thank you.Jack: May I offer you some tea?Doug: Thank you.Alex: Would you like some lemonade?Susan: That would be nice. Thanks for offering. Always use some words when offering someone something. Informal Use these phrases when offering something in an everyday situation: How about some...?What about some...?What do you say about some...?Are you up for some...? Mini-dialogues  containing offering phrases in informal situations would be: Dan: What about something to drink?Helga: Sure, do you have any scotch?Judy: Are you up for some dinner?Zina: Hey, thanks. Whats on the menu?Keith: What do you say about going bowling?Bob:  That sounds like a good idea! Accepting Offers Accepting offers is just as important, or even more important, than offering things. Make sure to thank your host. If you dont want to accept an offer, politely refuse. Offering an excuse is also a good idea in order not to offend your host. The following phrases are commonly used when accepting offers: Thank you.Id love to.Id love some.That would be nice.Thank you. Id like... Some examples of accepting phrases include: Frank: May I get you something to drink?Kevin: Thank you. Id like a cup of coffee.Linda: Would you like me to get you some food?Evan: That would be nice. Thank you.Homer: May I offer you something to drink?Bart: Thank you. Id like a soda. Politely Refusing Offers Sometimes its necessary to politely refuse an offer even if its a kind one. In such cases, use these phrases to politely refuse offers. Provide a reason why you want to refuse an offer rather than just saying no.   Thank you, but...Thats very kind. Unfortunately, I...Id like to, but... Examples of using polite refusals in dialogue include: Jane: Would you like some cookies?David: Thank you, but Im on a diet.Allison: How about a cup of tea?Pat: Id like to have a cup of tea. Unfortunately, Im late for a meeting. Can I take a rain check?Avram: How about some wine?Tom: No thank you. Im watching my weight.