To create and sustain high-quality patient care, healthcare facilities rely on effective guidance from a variety of results-driven, health-related policies and procedures. These policies provide a framework for employees by outlining expected standards for day-to-day operations and help facilities meet the many health, safety, and legal regulatory requirements in a high-risk industry.
The ultimate goal? To provide safe, high-quality patient care, achieve quality goals, efficiently use resources, and lessen risk in the process.
Written policies and procedures help healthcare facilities in a number of ways.
Theyhelp mitigate riskby ensuring facilities comply with ever-changing rules and regulations, guiding employees with best practices in care delivery, securely handling sensitive documents, protecting staff from potential harm, and working to avoid costly lawsuits.
Theyimprove complianceto industry standards by requiring healthcare organizations to meet complex accreditation requirements, and federal, state, and local laws and regulations.
And theyimprove internal communicationby ensuring that staff members have the information they need to do their jobs well, which makes operations run smoothly and fosters better patient care.
If you’re wondering where to start, it might help to see some examples of healthcare policies that facilities commonly put into place to follow best practices and mitigate risk.
1. Patient care policies
The first place to start with health policy examples covers those designed for patient care. A one-size-fits-all set of patient care policies will not work, as every facility’s needs are different based on the type of care it provides.
Whether your facility is a multi-state hospital, a small podiatry practice, or a regional rehab center, you should have facility-specific policies that cover the way in which your facility cares for patients.
For example, effective policies should address what types of procedures your facility performs, what types of illnesses and injuries your facility treats, when to refer patients to other facilities, and when to transfer them. More specifically, your patient care policies should explain how to handle particular medical situations, such as exposure to bodily fluids or medical emergencies.
Regardless of your organization’s size or type of care provided, a good first step with patient care policies involves asking key questions that relate to your specific facility.
While some of this may seem obvious, it is better to err on the side of caution by including potential issues and areas of concern in the beginning rather than coming across a problem later. It really means taking a more proactive rather than reactive approach.
Learn more about developing patient care policies for your facility.
2. Workplace health and safety policies
With patients at the heart of your health-related policies, it makes sense then to include a variety of policies that cover your biggest asset – namely, employees.
As the number one resource of any healthcare facility, employees need (and deserve) policies that look out for their health and safety on the job. This holds especially true because healthcare professionals face much greater health risks compared to most other industry professions.
Depending on your specific healthcare facility, you might need employee policies that cover issues such as personal protective equipment (PPE) (i.e., when do they need to wear gloves, masks, or more); exposure to substances like chemicals, infectious agents, or drugs; and any physical hazards in and around your facility. Your policies and procedures can help make employees aware of these hazards and protect their health.
But beyond that, do not overlook the overall wellness of your staff. Do you haveprograms or policies to promote and protect their wellness?
Just as in other industries, your wellness policies should address concerns like weight loss, work stress, healthy eating, and even on-the-job breastfeeding. All of these contribute to a healthy workforce, which research continues to prove is a more effective workforce.
Learn more about workplace health and safety policies.
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3. Information security policy
The issue of security is becoming an increasingly important one for healthcare facilities of all sizes. Even for smaller organizations that lack a dedicated security team, how will they handle suspicious persons or situations? When do they sound an alert and to whom?
Whether your facility maintains a security team or not, your health-related policies should clearly explain that security, like compliance, is everyone’s responsibility.
You need to equip employees at every level with the right information and procedures so they can handle security-related situations that might arise.
Learn more about the benefits of an information security policy, and get resources for writing your own.
4. Data privacy and IT security
Increasingly, data privacy and IT security are connected in terms of hospital policies and procedures. The more technology you incorporate into your facilities, the more risks you face for data leaks or privacy breaches.
At the core of these leaks? Primarily, human error falls at the crux of these breaches. That is why it is crucially important to put in writing these security and privacy policies. They can help your facility avoid a costly error.
For example, theconsequences of not complyingwith HIPAA could mean losing your tax-exempt status by failing to comply with new requirements from The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Or noncompliance could mean facing a stiff fine.
According toHIPAA Resolution Agreementsfrom the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR), HIPAA fines can be up to $1.5 million per incident per year.
Learn more about writing your patient data privacy policy and how to create effective HIPAA policies and procedures.
5. Drug handling
What procedures and safeguards are you putting around drug handling? Many facilities do not carry medicines in-house, while others only carry over-the-counter drugs, and still more carry very controlled and regulated drugs.
Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, you need very clear policies on how you administer medication, how you record and chart it, and what to do if an error occurs or inventory goes missing.
6. Administrative and HR policies
Another category of health policy examples includes administrative and HR policies. These cover all of those aspects of running the facility from a business and personnel perspective.
While caring for patients and helping them heal drives the mission of healthcare facilities, it is important to remember that they are still a business and need to operate effectively.
And, like any other business, these facilities also need policies that address general HR issues such as dress code, vacations, sick days, and shift-changes. Plus, these policies should address more health-related administrative issues such as patient visitation and bed capacity.
These seemingly mundane policies and procedures can help streamline many of the questions and concerns and help administrative staff more efficiently run the operational side of things.
7. Social media policies
The lure of Facebook and Twitter can pose some complex challenges when it comes to social media and healthcare. What are employees allowed to post when at work? What about when they are off duty but talking about things that happened at your facility?
A fine line exists between protecting the interests of the facility, the patients’ privacy, and the employees’ First Amendment rights. That is why you need a written policy that clearly spells out what is and isn’t allowed by employees.
Awell-crafted social media policy in healthcareshould touch on employee access, use of official accounts, online conduct, security requirements, disclaimers, and engagement.
Outlining these details can help your facility proactively prevent scandals such as an employee tweeting something offensive from an official hospital account or a staff member sharing confidential facility information online.
A social media policy can also help you effectively address and defuse problems that do arise before they do too much damage.
8. BYOD policy
Common health-related policies often include abring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy, which can be very simple and straightforward depending on your facility’s needs.
Everyone owns a smartphone these days. These personal devices, while helpful, also carry their own unique risks, especially when it comes to accessing sensitive work information. This doesn’t necessarily have to mean patient information; it could also mean work emails and communications or internal files and documents.
The lines between work and home are blurred these days, so creating a BYOD policy helps define what your organization does and does not allow on personal devices.
It doesn’t have to be overly complicated, but your BYOD policy should focus on those areas that pose the biggest potential risks to your facility.
9. Infectious disease policy
An infectious disease policy is the set of guidelines, rules, and regulations that establish the importance of disease control and how to prevent an outbreak.
Healthcare workers have a higher risk of contact with infectious diseases than most other industries. It comes with the territory.
An infectious disease policy keeps your employees prepared and informed on best practices and regulations. This prevents diseases from spreading, keeps healthcare workers safe, and protects your organization from liability.
According to SHRM, “Employers are legally liable for both employees and nonemployees infected in the workplace."
There are several key steps to developing your infectious disease policy:
- Identify known risks
- Plan for unknown risks
- Create a communication plan
- Assign roles
- Comply with regulations
- Train your employees
To learn more about developing your policy, visit our article Infectious disease policy in healthcare.
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10. Code of ethics
With healthcare being such a complex, high-risk, evolving industry, you will never be able to write enough health-related policies to cover every situation. Therefore, adopting a code of ethics policy will help determine the type of principles, behaviors, and ethics you want employees to demonstrate in every circumstance.
This organizational culture is not something you can mandate in a written document. However, you can codify and put words to a culture of respect, honesty, fairness, accountability, and compliance that your facility aims to develop.
Creating a culture of accountabilityin your healthcare facility starts with leadership and trickles down throughout the organization to employees at every level.
It helps you focus on your shared purpose and makes employees aware of expectations. And it fosters open communication from top to bottom. This empowers everyone to understand your organization’s goals, your mission, and the values you want every employee to demonstrate.
How to manage it all
Armed with this list of healthcare policies (10 of many different types), you can now identify the policy work that might still need to happen at your facility. And you might even feel a bit overwhelmed at needing to keep up with all of these policies not to mention the cost if you printed them all out. These days, there’s a better way.
Forget the paper-based system of the past, as it is inefficient in keeping up with the compliance demands of today’s healthcare environment. Instead, you need a policy management solution, likePowerDMS, to help keep everything organized and up to date.
A modern but easy-to-use solution like PowerDMS provides benefits for both the administrative side and the workforce. For admins, our cloud-based solutions helps them be more efficient in how they host, distribute, and track all these policies, saving both time and money. For employees,
PowerDMS helps provide them with better access to the information they need to perform their jobs. This boosts their confidence that what they find is up to date and improves their ability to quickly search for and find what they need.
Schedule a free demo today, or if you'd like some tips on writing effective policies, download the guide below.
FAQs
What are some examples of healthcare policies? ›
Examples of policies designed to protect and promote employee health include rules around the consumption of alcohol and tobacco in the workplace, wearing masks and gloves to minimize the risk of exposure to illnesses and chemicals, and wellness policies such as time off and healthy eating.
What are the major types of health policies? ›Understood in this sense, there are many categories of health policies, including global health policy, public health policy, mental health policy, health care services policy, insurance policy, personal healthcare policy, pharmaceutical policy, and policies related to public health such as vaccination policy, tobacco ...
What is the importance of healthcare policies? ›Health policy can have a major impact on health and well-being. Healthy People 2030 focuses on keeping people safe and healthy through laws and policies at the local, state, territorial, and federal level. Evidence-based health policies can help prevent disease and promote health.
What are healthcare policies and procedures? ›Policies and procedures in healthcare are far more than just general guidelines. Policies and procedures set expectations and proper ways of doing things. They guide day-to-day activities, helping promote consistency in practices, reduce mistakes, and keep patients and staff safe.
What are the 5 types of policies? ›Four types of policies include Public Policy, Organizational Policy, Functional Policy, and Specific Policy. Policy refers to a course of action proposed by an organization or individual.
What are the 3 policies? ›The three types of public policies are regulatory, restrictive, and facilitating policies.
What are the 4 types of policy? ›The four main types of public policy include regulatory policy, constituent policy, distributive policy, and redistributive policy. These four policy types differ in terms of what their goals are, and who they impact or benefit.
What are the 4 different forms of healthcare policy? ›The types of health insurance plans you should know are:
Preferred provider organization (PPO) plan. Health maintenance organization (HMO) plan. Point of service (POS) plan. Exclusive provider organization (EPO)
| Health Insurance Plans | Entry Age (Min-Max) | Network Hospitals |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Sundaram Lifeline Supreme Health Plan | 18 years & above | 5000+ |
| SBI Arogya Premier Policy | 3 months – 65 years | 6000+ |
| Star Family Health Optima Plan | 18-65 years | 9900+ |
| Tata AIG MediCare Plan | - | 4000+ |
In the US, the six major government programs are Medicare, Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the Department of Defense TRICARE and TRICARE for Life programs (DOD TRICARE), the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) program, and the Indian Health Service (IHS) program.
What are the five key elements of health in all policies? ›
- Health, Equity, and Sustainability. ...
- Intersectoral Collaboration. ...
- Co-benefits: Benefit Multiple Partners. ...
- Engage Stakeholders. ...
- Create Structural or Procedural Change.
What health care elements remain on the 2022 agenda? High-priority issues include: telehealth expansion, physician payments, changes to Medicare Advantage to help patients get more timely care, and certain Food and Drug Administration policies.
How many types of health policies are there? ›The types of medical insurance policy that fall in the category of Indemnity plans are as under: Individual Health Insurance. Family Floater Plan. Group Health Insurance.
What are public policies in healthcare? ›Public health policy is defined as the laws, regulations, actions, and decisions implemented within society in order to promote wellness and ensure that specific health goals are met. Public health policies can range from formal legislation to community outreach efforts.
What are the 10 policies all companies should have? ›- Health and safety. Every business should be committed to offering a healthy and safe working environment for all employees and visitors. ...
- Quality. ...
- Environment. ...
- Code of conduct. ...
- Corporate social responsibility. ...
- Employment. ...
- Purchasing. ...
- The Internet and E-mail.
Basic Policy means the contract of policy, including the schedule of fees and charges, as may be amended by endorsement from time to time. Sample 1Sample 2Sample 3.
What are policies in the workplace? ›A workplace policy is a statement which outlines an organisation's practices and procedures concerning part of its business, which can cover everything from day-to-day operational matters to compliance with employment legislation.
What are some types of policies? ›- Company policy.
- Communications and information policy.
- Human resource policies.
- Privacy policy.
- Public policy.
- Defense policy.
- Domestic policy.
- Economic policy.
...
Following are the various types of general insurance in India:
- Health Insurance.
- Motor Insurance.
- Home Insurance.
- Fire Insurance.
- Travel Insurance.
...
Workplace Policies:
- At-will employment. ...
- Anti-harassment and non-discrimination. ...
- Employment classifications. ...
- Leave and time off benefits. ...
- Meal and break periods. ...
- Timekeeping and pay. ...
- Safety and health. ...
- Employee conduct, attendance and punctuality.
What is a policy and its examples? ›
a set of ideas or a plan of what to do in particular situations that has been agreed to officially by a group of people, a business organization, a government, or a political party: They believe that Europe needs a common foreign and security policy.
What are the 8 main components of a policy document? ›- Header Block. ...
- Background. ...
- Purpose. ...
- Scope. ...
- Definitions. ...
- Policy Statements. ...
- Procedures. ...
- Related Policies.
Stable and future proofed. Developed considering the impact of policy on different groups. Known and understood by all that are affected by the policy. Written in clear, concise and gender-neutral language.
What are the 8 types of healthcare services? ›They cover emergency, preventative, rehabilitative, long-term, hospital, diagnostic, primary, palliative, and home care.
What are the two main types of healthcare policy? ›There are two types of health policies. Regulatory health policies help standardize and control certain groups of people. Allocative health policies provide one group of people with money or power by taking it from somewhere else.
Which policy plan is best? ›| Plan Name | Plan Type | Entry Age (Min/Max) |
|---|---|---|
| Future Generali Care Plus | Rural | 18 years to 60 years |
| Birla Sun Life BSLI Protect@Ease Plan | Term | 18 years to 65 years |
| LIC's Jeevan Pragati Plan | Endowment | 12 years to 45 years |
| Max Life Online Term Plan Plus Basic Life Cover | Term | 18 years to 60 years |
The Basic Health Program gives states the ability to provide more affordable coverage for these low-income residents and improve continuity of care for people whose income fluctuates above and below Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) levels.
What are the 8 guiding principles of healthcare? ›The final Washington e-Health Code of Ethics sets forth guiding principles under eight main headings: candor; honesty; quality; informed consent; privacy; professionalism in online health care; responsible partnering; and accountability.
What are the 6 P's in healthcare? ›Instead, Herrmann and her team created an improved nurse rounding program known as the "6 Ps" of patient care, or Pain, Personal Needs, Pulmonary Hygiene, Positions, Possessions and Place.
What are the 8 parts that make up a health and safety management system? ›- Management leadership and commitment. ...
- Identifying hazards and managing risk. ...
- Inspection of premises, equipment, workplaces & work practices. ...
- Investigation of incidents. ...
- Joint health and safety committee & representatives. ...
- Occupational health and safety programs.
What are the current issues in healthcare? ›
- Cybersecurity Threats.
- Telehealth Implementation.
- Invoicing and Payments.
- Price Transparency Mandate.
- IT Healthcare Investments.
- Patient Experience.
- Effective Payment Models.
- Healthcare Staffing Shortages.
Health policy is best understood as a set of overarching principles and goals that dictate how care is delivered and accessed. Health care policy can be codified at a national or state level, and then more finely honed in a hospital or clinical environment.
What are the health policy issues for 2023? ›The issues on the list include the public health workforce and legal authority, immunization, reproductive health, overdose prevention, mental health, data privacy and modernization, health equity, environmental health, tobacco and nicotine products, and HIV.
What are the 7 main types of insurance? ›- Health Care Coverage.
- Automobile Insurance.
- Homeowners' Insurance.
- Insurance against fire.
- Insurance for Travel.
Some examples of public policy include informing the public about making healthy choices, such as what they eat, physical activity, and consequences about smoking.
Why are policies important in the workplace? ›Policies are important in a workplace as it helps reinforce and clarify the standards expected of employees and help employers manage staff more effectively as it defines what is acceptable and unacceptable in the workplace.
What policies should a company have? ›- 1) Code of Conduct. ...
- 2) Policy on Equality. ...
- 3) Policy on Health and Safety at Work. ...
- 4) Policy on the Use of Social Media and the Internet. ...
- 5) Policy on Data Protection. ...
- 6) Policy on Working Times, Absences and Holidays. ...
- Bottom Line.
- Keep it simple. Policies should be written in plain language – not legalese. ...
- Keep it general. Policies cannot contemplate all possible situations. ...
- Make it relevant. ...
- Check for accuracy and compliance. ...
- Ensure the policy can be enforced. ...
- Clearly state who does what. ...
- Less is more.
The four main types of public policy include regulatory policy, constituent policy, distributive policy, and redistributive policy. These four policy types differ in terms of what their goals are, and who they impact or benefit.
Is Medicare a healthcare policy? ›Medicare is the federal health insurance program for: People who are 65 or older. Certain younger people with disabilities. People with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a transplant, sometimes called ESRD)
What is good health policy? ›
Good Health Policy offers you and your family a complete protection plan for your peace of mind. It offers the benefits of medical insurance, daily cash benefit and personal accident coverage in a single policy. Good health policy is brought to you by The New India Assurance Company Limited.
What are the 4 types of Medicare? ›- Part A provides inpatient/hospital coverage.
- Part B provides outpatient/medical coverage.
- Part C offers an alternate way to receive your Medicare benefits (see below for more information).
- Part D provides prescription drug coverage.
On the federal level, elected and appointed officials write healthcare policy with input from other professionals. Like other public-policy decisions, healthcare policy on the federal level is traditionally made through the three branches of government. The judicial branch interprets the policy.