Is there a relationship between cost and quality of care? Health care cost is the cost incurred in acquiring health care services such as
medications, therapies, and procedures. Quality in health means providing health care services to
patients when they need it, at an affordable, effective, safe, equitable, and effective manner. The relationship between health care cost and quality vary between small and moderate, holding all other factors constant. However, there is a popular school of thought that high cost of health care services predict higher quality care for patients. Other researchers still argue that if funds are spent on areas they are needed most, then care services provided would improve in
quality and efficiency.
There are significant relationship between cost and quality of care. The relationship
is higher under three factors; when the price is used instead of cost when process measures are
used instead of outcome measures, and when the focus is on health care services such as heart
attack, heart failure, and stroke instead of other clinical conditions. Therefore, the relationship between cost and quality of care depends on the condition and the manner in which resources are utilized.
Is there a relationship between cost and quality of care?
However, researchers such as Kang & Hong (2017) argue that there is no significant connection between cost and
quality among hospitals providing myocardial infarction care. The authors examined about 69
hospitals with 6599 patients hospitalized in them. The article focused on AMI because patients
with the condition require immediate medical attention, and their care is more specialized than other conditions. Also, the authors chose the condition because the incidence of AMI is high and that it is the leading cause of death among the elderly.
Other researchers still believe that the variables cost and quality of health care are unrelated. This means more expensive
medical bills do not necessarily translate to a better quality of care. Such researchers claim that more often, patients pay more,
not necessarily for superior quality services but due to the health care system. Additionally,
increased cost of care is sometimes not as a result of quality improvement measures such as reduced medical
errors, improved patient safety, and timely care services. The relationship is influenced
by a lot more factors. APA