HCI CEO highlights necessity for improved regulations system in health sector

Oct. 17, 2014 - PRLog -- 14^th October 2014

Issued on behalf of Health Care Informed

HCI Chief Executive John Sweeney addressed a diverse audience at the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) 2014 conference in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday last, the 7^th of October.

The title of John’s speech was; “The Future of Regulation: Improving Health and Social Care,” and in it he addressed the need for continuous access monitoring.

John, who is on the board of ISQua, stated that “the regulatory monitoring process has not fundamentally changed since its emergence in the 1960s, and at present it is a stop start process where organisations pour enormous resources into an on-site regulatory inspection, only to lose momentum between these visits and allow the implementation requirements to build up.”

For continuous access monitoring to be successful, Mr Sweeney says that “organisations must allow the national regulatory body access to the organisation’s own internal software systems to externally view ‘big data’ in actual time.”

John admits there are challenges ahead in implementing continuous access monitoring, including:

The necessity of a culture of open information and transparency

Off-site monitoring must be supported by continued actual regulatory response

The requirement of a software data management system

Organisations must ensure immediate reporting processes internally

Regulators must allow organisations the time to act and react to incidents prior to regulatory involvement

However he is adamant that the rewards will outweigh any implementation difficulties. These will include:

Increasing the Person Centred Focus (Continuous monitoring = continuous care)

National and possibly international benchmarking becoming a reality

A reflection of regulatory requirements at all times

Removing requirement for double entry systems

Reducing costs to organisations by reducing regulator time on-site

John concluded; “In line with regulatory progress, continuous organisational access by regulators is the next major step forward for regulation implementation. It’s recognised that to achieve this, a change is required in the relationship between the regulator and the regulated – with organisations required to show ‘an open hand’, with regulators working towards a more supportive role to assist organisations to ‘get it right’ in real time. Real time monitoring provides a true reflection of an organisations commitment to a regulatory system and the quality and safety of care provided within that system.”

-ENDS-

Editors Note:

Health Care Informed, is an outsource organisation specializing in helping Healthcare organisations reach outstanding standards in healthcare and regulatory compliance, which employs 20 people in Ireland, with a further office in Melbourne, Australia. It is the only company of its kind in Ireland and has an extensive list of clients which include over 40 hospitals such as the Hermitage Clinic, Lucan Co Dublin, West/Northwest Hospital Group, Bon Secours Hospital in Tralee, in excess of 70 nursing homes around the country, and a number of disability services organisations (including Gheel Autism Services and St John of Gods Hospitaller Ministries), home care service organisations, medical laboratories and medical transport services.

For an interview with John please contact:

Frank Cronin/Alan Keane, Plunkett PR

Email: frank@plunkettpr.com

Tel: 01-2807873