General Overview of the Two Hospitals
The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGP) represents one of the most efficient and high performing hospitals in the country while at the extreme end of the same divide lies the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (Reagan). It is, however, worthy of notice that due to the stringent quality and performance standards necessary for licensing in the USA, the standard of care in hospitals is generally high. Therefore, even the seemingly worst hospitals will still have some positive attributes. The MGP is situated in the city of Boston in Massachusetts, specifically along 55 Fruit Street (Medicare, 2017) . It is a massive 1,034 bed and is affiliated to the Harvard University. Reagan, on the other hand, is situated in Los Angeles California, specifically at 757 Westwood Plaza. It has 520 beds and is affiliated with the University of California Los Angeles (Medicare II, 2017) .
Quality Performance Differences between Hospitals
The success of a hospital depends on a careful balance between several parameters. The first and perhaps most crucial parameter refers to the safety of the patients. In this regard, the tests include the safety of patient from infection while being treated at the hospital, the safety of patient information at the institution, and safety from professional negligence. Another important parameter relates to the motivation and engagement of the members of staff at the hospital. Motivated and engaged employees will always be able to treat patients better. The level of hygiene at the hospital is also a crucial performance parameter. Further, hospitals are mainly associated with clinical treatment as well as care giving and the performance in this regard is also crucial.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
MGP has adopted the New England tendency of seeking to achieve high employee motivation and engagement through attractive terms of service (US News, 2017) . This is one of the keys towards its success as its members of staff aspires towards the success of the institution. From a clinical perspective, MGP has one of the most successful research facilities globally and boast among the premier experts in different fields (Medicare, 2017) . Indeed, patients at this hospital can always count on receiving specialized treatment for the ailments suffered. According to Medicare, 89% of all patients attended at the hospital indicate that they would recommend it to their loved ones (Medicare, 2017) . Among the most notable scores is 90% based on advice given to patients on what to do once they are released.
Medicare has given Reagan three out of five stars which from a general perspective of quite low. Granted, several of the facilities at the hospital are relatively effective with over 80% of the patients indicating that they would recommend the hospital. However, only 64% indicated that explanations had been given for the medicines they took and only 57% percent felt that the hospital was quiet at night (Medicare II, 2017) . It is from the perspective of safety from infections that the hospital gets its highest criticism. Reports indicate inordinately high levels of secondary infections having affected patients who were treated at this establishment. This can be a problem, more so because it goes against the primary goal of a medical institution to wit being curative in nature. A good example is the outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) between 2013 and 2014 that affected 179 people and was traced to poor hygiene (Terhune, 2015) .
Discussion on the Reasons for Success and Opportunities Available
The two aforementioned hospitals were selected for the instant paper due to their manifest congruence, which should have enabled their performance to also show congruency. They are both urban, well-funded hospitals which enjoy affiliations to great learning institutions. Therefore, from the perspective of qualification of members of staff and availability of resources and paraphernalia, these two institutions are different. Based on the findings above, their differences are based on the human resource elements of the hospitals. It is clear that the team at MGH outperform those at Reagans thus causing the different ratings by Medicare. It, therefore follows that just as with any other ordinary corporation, leadership is an important prerequisite for success in a hospital. It seems that the level of employee engagement and motivation at MGH has given it an edge over that of Reagan, a fact that is represented in the outcomes and results from the two major hospitals. Better leadership is, therefore, the opportunity available to Reagan to enhance its service proviso and thus be able to match or supersede MGH.
Value Increase for Each Hospital
Medicare Valued MGH much higher than Reagan yet the patient ratings seemed to favor Reagan over MGH. According to the Medicare report, only 83% of MGH patients gave the hospital a rating of 9 or 10 out of ten overall while for Reagan it was 86%. In modern care, patient satisfaction is considered as important as clinical success is for a hospital. This is one area that MGH needs to improve on when it comes to value. Based on the levels of successful research and undertakings carried out at the MGH, the hospital provides some of the best treatment regimens globally. It, however, seems that the patients are not aware of this fact , an area that MGH needs to improve on.
Reagan is already reeling from the aforementioned CRE outbreak, a fact that was blamed on the negligence of a section of its staff members. The reputation of a hospital takes years to develop but can be lost in an instance. Reagan must, therefore, put proper modalities in place to ensure that issues of hygiene are not compromised. This can be achieved by setting up best practice procedures for each and every undertaking then ensuring that these procedures are followed to the letter always. In a medical institution, room for error must be eliminated when it comes to issues of hygiene and infection.
References
Medicare II. (2017). Hospital compare quality of care profile page . Retrieved September 14, 2017, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=1&ID=050262&loc=LOS%20ANGELES%2C%20CA&lat=34.0522342&lng=-118.2436849&name=Ronald%20Reagan&Distn=14.6
Medicare. (2017). Hospital compare quality of care profile page . Retrieved September 14, 2017, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=1&ID=220071&loc=BOSTON%2C%20MA&lat=42.3584308&lng=-71.0597732&name=Massachusetts%20General%20Hospital&Distn=0.6
Terhune, C. (2015, February 18). Superbug linked to 2 deaths at UCLA hospital; 179 potentially exposed. Retrieved September 14, 2017, from http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hospital-infections-20150218-story.html
US. News. (2017). Massachusetts General Hospital . Retrieved September 14, 2017, from http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/ma/massachusetts-general-hospital-6140430
