UTHealth Houston Harris County Psychiatric Center

Performance Improvement

The goal of the Performance Improvement Department is to ensure continuous performance improvement in the delivery of safe, quality care that is efficient, cost effective and consistent with the strategic goals, mission, vision and values of UTHealth Harris County Psychiatric Center and regulatory body requirements. The Performance Improvement Department also focuses on policies and best practices, including The Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals that have proven to improve high-quality care in a safe environment.

The service responsibility of each area includes:

Patient Relations serves as a liaison between patients, consumers and HCPC. The Patient Relations Department enables patients and families to address and resolve issues by acting on their behalf and recommending alternate approaches for improving services to all patients. Patient Relations assists HCPC in meeting requirements of regulatory organizations such as the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and The Joint Commission (TJC).

Utilization Review focuses on cost effective management of healthcare. It provides an ongoing, systematic process for measurement and assessment of the necessity, appropriateness and efficiency of the use of services and procedures. We aim to prevent over- and/or under-utilization of patient treatment services, without compromising the quality of patient care.
     The Utilization Review team at HCPC accomplishes this purpose through working with the multi-disciplinary treatment team to develop individualized treatment and discharge plans, providing third-party payers with current clinical data needed to advocate for needed in-patient and out-patient services, and expediting insurance appeals for the client to recover costs of required extended hospital stays.

Health Case Management provides a comprehensive occupational health program and includes case management opportunities involving work-related injuries, managing and participating in the planning, development and assessment of employee health operations. The case manager helps identify appropriate providers and facilitates a continuum of services while ensuring that available resources are used in a timely and cost-effective manner for optimum value for both the client and reimbursement source.

Infection Control identifies and reduces the risks of endemic and epidemic nosocomial infections in patients and health care workers. Processes are designed for patient care departments and patient support departments to reduce risks for nosocomial infections in patients, and to reduce risks for transmission of infection among patients, visitors and staff, and from the environment. The Hospital Infection Control Committee is responsible for implementation of these activities.

Joint Commission Accreditation assesses and ensures ongoing compliance with The Joint Commission (TJC) standards through reviews, mocks surveys and team audits.
     UTHealth Harris County Psychiatric Center is accredited by the Joint Commission, an independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies more than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Joint Commission accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting certain performance standards. HCPC has a voluntary survey by the Joint Commission every three years.

Safety of Quality Concerns

HCPC strives to create and sustain a culture of safety. Providing safe, quality care is a strategic goal and part of our mission statement. Outcomes are evaluated through our organization-wide Performance Improvement Committees. Patient and staff safety surveys are also part of the evaluative process.

If you have concerns about safety or quality of care provided at HCPC, please contact the following: Nursing Administration 713-741-4800 Patient Relations 713-741-7859 Safety Compliance Coordinator 713-741-7869 Performance Improvement 713-741-4827 Administrator 713-741-7803.

If the concerns in question cannot be resolved at this level, you may contact The Joint Commission by email at complaint@jointcommission.org or phone 1-800-994-6610.