Topics

• U.S. Healthcare Delivery System
• Strengths and Weaknesses
• Triple Aim
• References

NURS 410 - Health Care Delivery Systems & Informatics

Module 1: Overview of Healthcare Delivery System

Triple Aim

What is the Triple Aim of health care? Improving the U.S. health care system requires simultaneous pursuit of three aims: (1) improve the health of populations, (2) enhance the patient experience of care (including quality, access, and reliability) and (3) reduce, or at least control, the per capita cost of care (Berwick, Nolan, & Whittington, 2008).

Review the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to read about the Triple Aim initiative (IHI, 2015) (http://www.ihi.org/Engage/Initiatives/TripleAim/pages/default.aspx). Make sure to watch the video to learn about the core concepts of the Triple Aim, and then consider viewing care improvement, applying the Triple Aim, from a systems perspective. What would your change be and why would it be an improvement? Would you focus on patient experiences over improved population health and decreased cost? How hard do you think it would be to meet all 3 of the Triple Aims and realize your new change or intervention? The Triple Aim model is very similar to the model described in the text, The Iron Triangle, quality, cost, and accessibility but the IHI model is broader and focused on population health.

Omachonu & Einspruch (2010) explain that innovation in healthcare continues to be a driving internal and external force encouraging citizens to consider the balance of cost containment and health care quality. Innovation is considered to be a critical component of business productivity and competitive survival within the U. S. health care delivery system (p. 2). Now, reflect back on the discussions with Drs. Benner, Bolton and Shalala in the WIHI. What aspect of the health care delivery system would you want to “improve?” How would you go about to begin this process? What policy changes, if any, would need to be enacted to support your imitative?