How Patient Engagement Can Improve Your Hospital’s Quality STAR Score

Quality STAR scores are quality ratings released by the government agency CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services). These scores use several criteria to determine the quality of a healthcare provider’s service. The criteria include mortality, safety of care, effectiveness of care, and patient experience.

Since these ratings are issued by a government agency, they can speak a lot about the quality of your hospital’s healthcare services. A poor reputation can ruin business and cause patients to look elsewhere for health and medical services, so it’s important to strive for perfect Quality STAR scores.

As founder and CEO of EasyHealth, a 400-person Medicare platform, serial entrepreneur David Duel knows a thing or two about succeeding in the healthcare industry. He remarked, “If your hospital or healthcare service is rated low in an area, the best people to ask for feedback are the patients. Engaging patients and asking them about their experiences will help you pinpoint what to fix.”

Healthcare providers have learned many valuable lessons by fostering engagement through targeted patient campaigns and other personalized interactions with patients. David Duel also said, “Patient segmentation can help you tailor your services to patients’ specific needs, especially if they have been non-compliant in some way. Patients who refuse to take medication or perform procedures usually have a reason why they don’t want to comply.”

Once you know how to address a specific demographic’s needs, your healthcare services will be rated higher as you take appropriate measures.

“At the end of the day, healthcare is about meeting people’s needs, no matter who they are. It’s not just about Quality STAR ratings; it’s about helping people,” David Duel stated.

For More info on David Duel, see https://angel.co/u/david-duel-1 and read this recent press release: USC Alumni David Duel Endows Scholarship Program to Brings Jewish Alums and Students Together

How to Pick the Right Medical Malpractice Attorney?

If you are a victim of a dental injury due to a dental procedure that was incorrectly done, you will want to consult a reputed dental malpractice lawyer. Here are some key areas that you should look into before selecting on an attorney to handle your case.

Experience – Dental malpractice cases will involve proving that the dentist deviated from the accepted standards of medical practice and this act of failure caused the patient’s injury. To ensure that the plaintiff has a strong case, the attorney will have to be familiar with applicable laws and the medical implications they can cause. Most cases will require expert witnesses to provide reliable testimony. The attorney will have to select these expert witnesses and prepare them for the case. All these crucial areas will require an attorney with experience in this specific field. Ask your attorney how many similar cases they have handled and ask them to provide you with references.

Medical knowledge – A medical malpractice attorney needs to understand medical terms, procedures, diagnoses, and theories. Therefore, most reputed attorneys will have nurses, doctors or other medical professionals with whom they can consult to learn more about the case.

Litigation experience – Your attorney should have experience in litigating and settling medical malpractice claims. Look at an attorney that you are comfortable working with as most dental malpractice cases can take years to solve.

Blog submitted by Dane Levy Attorney of www.Dentalmal.com, a provider of legal services for those injured by dental malpractice in California