Statistics play an important role in the management of health care organizations and in decision making and strategic planning. Collecting, analyzing, and utilizing data appropriately impacts financial management of the organization and the quality of patient care delivered. Decisions in clinical medicine are driven by evidence-based practice, as are those in health care management. A health care manager must understand and use evidence in making informed decisions that improve the operations and financial status of the organization as well as deliver quality of care accessible to those who need it and with consideration of the costs involved.
In this assignment, you will choose a utilization review statistic from the following list and review a research paper or government publication, as outlined below.
Choose a health care statistic that health care managers would use, such as one of the following:
- Hospital-acquired condition (HAC)
- Emergency department visits
- Labor and delivery suite usage
- Ambulatory surgery procedures
- Hospital death rates
- Cesarean-section rate
- Wait time
- Adverse drug events
Research your chosen statistic, and provide information from an outside source—such as a journal article, accreditation agency report, government site, and so forth—that discusses the health care statistic in a real-life setting or situation.
Write a paper of 4–6 pages, not including the title page and reference page, in APA format that discusses the following:
- What was the reason for the research that was performed or for the data being collected?
- What was the source of the data presented?
- What types of descriptive statistics and graphical representations of data were used?
- What were the research question(s) and the significant findings of the article?
- How could the information presented be used to inform decisions or improvements?
