Policy & Procedure Implementation

The Purpose of Policies and Procedures

Formalized, written policies and procedures fulfill a number of important purposes:

• Facilitate adherence with recognized professional practices.
• Promote compliance with regulations, statutes, and accreditation requirements (e.g. HIPAA, EMTALA, CMS Conditions of Participation, DNV/Joint Commission).
• Reduce practice variation.
• Standardize practices across multiple entities within a single a health system.
• Serve as a resource for staff, particularly new personnel.
• Reduce reliance on memory, which, when overtaxed, has been shown to be a major source of human errors or oversights.

These functions demonstrate how central policies and procedures are to the healthcare system’s patient safety program.

The operational challenges associated with drafting (and maintaining) comprehensive written policies place heavy demands on healthcare managers. Let us take this off your plate!